This happened to me. I bought a lot of gold jewellery in Dubai, including my diamond tennis bracelet, my Chanel bag, my mum bought an LV bag etc. we got back to the U.K. and they searched us after we collected our luggage, found our receipts etc and made us pay import tax. They threatened to seize everything, proper shook me up ngl I started crying
it felt like we were on the show “can’t pay we’ll take it away”. We paid the tax and they gave us a booklet on import tax and said we have to pay it on anything we buy abroad that is over £350? Can’t remember the exact amount
the tax came up to quite a lot, but I remember it was still cheaper to buy abroad than in the U.K. (not by as much after the tax tho 🥲)