PETS Scheme Inspection

On a recent transport to the UK we transported a dog for it’s owner. The pet passport and microchip were registered to the person here in Spain, and we were transporting it to the same person to their UK address. Totally correct paperwork for the PETS Scheme i.e. no change of ownership, reason for the transport necessitated by a change in circumstance to the owner not the dog, microchip registration in the persons name, and the Declaration to transport their animal completed.

No problems at all with Pet Passport or border agency at Calais. Petr Passport checked the passport only i.e. microchip date and presence, rabies vaccination date, worming date. Border Agency checked – nothing, which is probably the case 90% of the time.

The evening after we had dropped the dog off the owner had a visit from three people from the port authority. Three people, one dog, it doesn’t take a genius to figure they had come prepared to take the dog away. They inspected all the paperwork and were totally satisfied so not a problem. The reason for their visit? They had been told that the dog was registered to a Spanish address and not a UK address, and they were being more vigilant because of recent puppy smuggling from Spain.

So how did they get the information? Not from Pet Passport as they only saw the dog and the passport, no owner details such as address or microchip registration (although we had them ready to present if required). Not from the Border Agency as they didn’t look at any paperwork. Not from us as even on our password protected page we don’t have the microchip details.

No, the only way that they could have got the information that they had (and this is how they got it) was from the Spain where the dog was originally registered.

Yes, the Spanish authorities are starting to communicate with the authorities in the UK.

This is a good thing, unless of course you (or your transport company) are abusing the PETS Scheme to avoid TRACES when you transport a re-homed animal!