HEAVY-smoker Paul Nevin was celebrating today after an appeals tribunal ruled the tobacco and cigarette haul he brought through customs was for his own use.

The dad-of-three, of Dudley Road, Honeybourne, near Evesham, says he has been "living a nightmare" since returning from Belgium in May last year.

He drove there to stock up on 3,400 cigarettes for his wife and 30 kilos of rolling tobacco for himself - an 80-a-day smoker - but customs officials at Dover refused to believe they were for his own use.

They were confiscated along with his car. Six months later, his car was sold.

Now an appeals tribunal has ruled they were, and Mr Nevin is hopeful of compensation. But he called for proper customs limits to be placed on cigarettes and tobacco to avoid the confusion he was plunged into.

"You can't have one rule for one, and one for another," he told Central News last night.

Claire Morgan, Customs and Excise Press officer, said guidelines are in place but they are "not set in stone".

"The minimum indicative levels set out by the European Commission is 800 cigarettes and one kilo of rolling tobacco but a person can bring in more if they can prove it's for personal use.

"Although I am not sure how much money Mr Nevin will receive, he will be compensated for the loss of goods," she said.