On 2007-05-05 17:58:53 +0100, Graeme said:

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)"
writes

Weird. I've bought several items from the US that involved duty payable
and not had this problem.

Ditto. I have received many hundreds of packages from USA, Canada,
Europe and Australia over the last, say, five years, ranging in value
from a few pounds to hundreds of pounds. The ONLY problems have been
with parcels carried by idiot couriers. Luckily, they are a very small
minority.

So please explain to me how to arrange that Royal Mail delivers a
package to me and invoices me for the import VAT afterwards.

If you can do that, please provide the details of their procedure and
how to ensure that my local office follows it.