The European Court of Justice has ruled against allowing consumers to buy drinks and cigarettes online at lower duties from other countries.

Shoppers wishing to get the benefit of buying cheaper goods abroad have to accompany the goods back themselves.

It had been feared a ruling going the other way would have hit thousands of UK retailers and could have spelled the end for the "booze cruise".

The decision will come as a relief to the Treasury and ferry firms.

"This clear win for the government is a victory for commonsense," said a government source.

The UK government already loses duty of more than £1bn (1.5bn euros) per year because of booze cruises, and would have stood to lose a lot more.

But shoppers hoping to stock up on alcohol and cigarettes for Christmas will be disappointed by the ruling.

The European Court of Justice judges ruled that "only products acquired and transported personally by private individuals are exempt from excise duty in the member state of importation".

The case was brought by a Dutch wine club who objected to being charged duty on a lorry-load of wine delivered from France.

The Dutch Supreme Court had asked the European Court to interpret its own directive, which said: "As regards products acquired by private individuals for their own use and transported by them... excise duty shall be charged in the member state in which they are acquired."

An interim ruling from the court last year suggested it would be possible for shoppers to order goods from their armchair and have them delivered to their door as long as the goods were for personal consumption and transported themselves.

The UK had stood to lose more than most countries by a change in the law, whereas a country like France would have benefited from the extra business.

But this may be a short term reprieve for the UK Treasury because planned draft legislation could reverse this decision in the future.

Duty on a bottle of wine varies from nothing in 13 EU countries, to 2.1 euros per 75cl in Ireland.

BBC News