Name: Johanna Haughey
Company: Weirdstock
Based: London
Trade: Bedding
Trading since: 2023
Stopped selling to the EU: Yes
Estimate of business lost: 5%
Government communication?: None
First heard about GPSR: End of November 2024
Have you been contacted by customers in the EU??: Yes, around 10-15 so far
MP: Abena Oppong-Asare - Erith and Thamesmead (Labour)
Johanna's story in her own words:
“I don't have any employees, it's just me. And you absolutely do every single element: you're doing the marketing, you're doing the logistics, the production, the design, absolutely everything. And while I've tried to do a bit of digging around GPSR - it's just not that easy to find the information on it."
“So, I'm in a few different networks, and all of the solo traders, the small businesses. All of them have stopped [trading with the EU and NI].”
"And I don't even have a huge market in the EU, so would I even make that money back? I don't actually know that I would. And then you've got the customs issue as well so even if I invested this, the customs thing is a barrier so is it even worth it?”
"I got named in this list of 100 female entrepreneurs this year and I was thinking I should tell some of my local newspapers from home (in Northern Ireland), but I'm not going to bother because there's no point, because I can't sell there. Or friends, former colleagues and family who want to support me and they can’t.”
“I do get the impression that there's some people who are just burying their head in the sand and not doing anything about it. Because I can think of about 10 people that I have seen post about this, but I have loads more that haven't said anything about it. It's really unfair because they may end up getting caught out, and it might be either because they don't understand it, or they haven't received any communication.”