Why did I pay duty on photo of a donkey?

So, was struggling on what to get the wife for Christmas this year. Well, what do you get the women who already has everything? Then, a lightbulb movement, a donkey subscription from the Donkey Sanctuary in Devon, England.

For £50 she could adopt a donkey, and there was one called “Ashley”, the wife’s maiden name. The similarities were so subtle: short legs, long ears and of course beautiful eyes.

Better still, they would send her a photograph of her donkey. So I had something to put in her stocking under the tree.

It arrived in Cyprus this week, a photograph of her donkey, valued for the Customs Department in Cyprus at €00.00 on the front of the envelope for all to see.

I got the notification from customs that it had arrived and saw on the envelope that the value of the contents was nothing, nothing at all.

But there were duties to pay of €3.57. On nothing! Now just imagine if the envelope had contained something of value, something worth more than nothing.

Is this a scam? Had the photo been for me I would have politely told customs where to put it. Agreed, €3.57 is not a lot of money in the great scheme of things, but it leaves a bitter taste. Are we as a country that desperate?

Peter G Davis, Droushia, Paphos