Heavy Vale smoker, Paul Nevin has been offered £5,500 compensation from Customs and Excise but he says it is not enough.

The father of three embarked upon an 18-month-battle for justice after officers seized 3,400 cigarettes, 30 kilos of rolling tobacco and his car when he returned from a one-day ferry trip to Belgium in May 2001.

Later Customs and Excise were forced into a U-turn after an Appeals Tribunal accepted that the tobacco was for Mr Nevin's personal use and the cigarettes were for his wife Karen.

Mr Nevin said he has been offered payment in full for the cost of the tobacco, cigarettes and his car, and other sundry costs which added up to £5,156.17p.

The 80-a-day man, said: "They said they would round it up to £5,500 as a gesture of good will, but they won't compensate me for the duty on the goods of £3,500, which is totally wrong." Mr Nevin explained that this sum represented the money he would have saved if he had been allowed to keep the tobacco and cigarettes."

He has now got about a week to consider his options. He said: "According to the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 I can't take them to court. If I disagree with the claim they can ask the Lord Chancellor to appoint an independent referee, whose decision would be final. How can the referee appointed by the Lord Chancellor be independent? I have also been warned that if the referee were to find that the offer was fair then I would have to pay costs, which could be thousands of pounds." Mr Nevin said he was considering suing privately for more compensation.

Press officer for Customs and Excise, Mark Powell said: "Customs and Excise decided not to appeal on the tribunal decision and instead made Mr Nevin an offer of compensation. Where on occasions courts and tribunals have found against Customs and no appeal is made compensation will always be offered."