A 'rule of thumb' adopted by Revenue & Customs to decide whether duty should be charged on the importation of classic cars has been branded "unreasonable and arbitrary" by a High Court judge. In a test case action centring on a rare and restored 1950s Ford Zephyr convertible, Sir Andrew Park dismissed a challenge by the taxman to VAT and Duties Tribunal findings that they were wrong in their view that duty was payable on importation of the vehicle as it was valued at less than £20,000. The 1955 vehicle was bought in New Zealand in 2005 for NZ$22,000 (£9,000) and has been at the centre of a landmark battle over whether it is entitled to import tax exemption status under EC regulations as interpreted by the UK Revenue. Lawyers for the owner argued that the vehicle should be classed as 'a collector's piece of historical interest' and therefore should be exempt. However, the judge said that in deciding whether classic vehicles qualified for the duty exemption, the Revenue regarded the value of a vehicle as crucial and 'adopted a rule of thumb' about what they would and would not accept to be 'high value' for old and rare cars which met all the other conditions for exemption.