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Nicola Alexander

Managing Director

Drawing on a wealth of knowledge and experience, Bethan’s MD, Nicola Alexander, is passionate about working in partnership with businesses to guide them through their customs and compliance obligations.

Nicola has held a number of key roles during her career including Customs Supervisor and Customs Consultancy Manager. She established Bethan Customs Consultancy in 2015, driven by the conviction that there was a better way of helping businesses to navigate the ever-evolving world of importing and exporting.

Since then, Nicola has built a strong reputation for providing clear, practical and impartial advice to businesses in relation to their customs compliance and supply chain requirements.

Nicola’s sweet tooth is the stuff of legend – her dedication to customs legislation is exceeded only by her love of awesome tunes and sweeties!

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Stuart Wood

Technical Account Manager

New Pitsligo born Stuart became part of the team in 2018. A strong industry background in a number of disciplines, combined with his customs and logistics experience, has made Stuart indispensable to our clients.

Stuart’s role involves carrying out reviews of supply chain procedures to ensure that they comply with the legislative requirements, identifying cost-saving customs regimes, managing client customs records to HMRC expectations, and assisting clients in their direct or written communication with customs.

When he’s not wrestling with the demands of customs compliance, Stuart is a huge fan of professional wrestling, but would secretly love to play for Aberdeen Football Club!

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Stephanie Gillespie

Client Account Manager

Having joined Bethan in 2021 as a Customs Administrator, Stephanie was rapidly promoted to the role of Client Account Manager.

Her role sees her supporting clients’ requirements, ensuring that they are confident and compliant with their customs obligations. With 10 years’ experience in finance roles across a number of listed energy companies, Stephanie is highly knowledgeable in the fields of Customs and VAT legislation.

If she’s not listening to her guilty pleasure, Gold Radio, Stephanie is thinking of her dream holiday destination: a spa retreat in Bali… Can we come too?

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Fiona Watt

Customs Administrator

Customs Administrator Fiona came on board in March 2021. She provides customs administrative assistance to the team, supporting them to deliver the top-notch service our clients have come to expect.

Fiona has spent the last 34 years working for HM Revenue & Customs, latterly as a VAT adviser specifically for overseas businesses. Fiona’s in-depth knowledge and vast experience means she is exceptionally well-placed to support our team and their clients.

With a menagerie of pets to keep her busy, Fiona’s dream superpower of talking to animals could prove very useful!

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Diane Watt

Customs Admin Coordinator

Customs Admin Coordinator Diane has been with Bethan since 2022. Successfully applying her administrative skillset from her previous roles in the private and public sectors, Diane supports the team to consistently deliver Bethan’s high standards of service to our clients.

Diane was attracted to Bethan as we are a local, home-grown family business, grounded in the values of honesty, integrity, and reliability. She also thrives in a small, close-knit team so Bethan is the perfect fit!

Diane’s love of travel runs in her family. She recently waved goodbye to her daughter as she embarked on a trip around Australia – a proud moment, although she misses her like mad!

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April Michie

Customs Administrator

April joined team Bethan in 2022, after being drawn to the company by the prospect of a new challenge and the ever-evolving nature of the customs and compliance sector. April’s most recent role as a product set-up technician required exceptional attention to detail – a skill we highly value here at Bethan!

April’s main role is to support the team in an administrative capacity, facilitating the fantastic relationships between us and our clients.

April is very much a people person, and spends a great deal of her free time volunteering with several local community groups and organisations.

A highlight of her year so far (apart from starting at Bethan of course!) was watching her little girl take her first steps. Given the opportunity, April would love to time travel or maybe just travel to her dream holiday destination of Santorini!

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Tammy Lindsay

Commercial Coordinator

Tammy, joined the team as an administrator in 2021. Tammy’s role is to provide administrative support, including co-ordinating, developing and running various company records files and data. She exercises her creative side by designing our social graphics and supporting the maintenance of our website.

Tammy has a background in research with a global consulting firm, and experience in data analysis with a large South African bank. She also recently designed and built a website for a local business.

While growing up in South Africa, Tammy’s childhood dream was to become a vet. So it’s fitting that she now she has her own menagerie of animals complete with 5 x dogs and 2 x horses!

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Angela Duguid

Administrator

Angela joined the team in March 2023 as an Admin Assistant, bringing a plethora of experience from previous administrative roles within a local school and Aberdeenshire Council. Angela was drawn to the role at Bethan due to the local, family nature of the business and the close-knit team.

Angela’s main role is to provide administrative services and support to the wider Bethan team. Some of her day-to-day activities include the maintenance of procurement records, maintaining the PO register and assisting with our newsletter and social media.

Angela’s superpower is her organisational and logical skillset - from crosswords to jigsaws, she has a penchant for all sorts of puzzles! Her sense of adventure is evident; her dream holiday would be an African safari.

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THE BETHAN STORY

Following a career working in supply chain, logistics and customs consultancy settings, Nicola Alexander established Bethan Customs Consultancy from her spare bedroom in 2015.

Since then, Bethan (as it’s affectionately known) has grown considerably – both in scale and reputation. The team has expanded to meet demand, and long since moved from a spare room to a stunning, purpose-built office in Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire.

The Bethan team have worked hard to build a stellar reputation for providing clear and practical advice, as well as training and on-going support to businesses in relation to their customs compliance and supply chain requirements. It’s a track record that has secured them UK-wide contracts with clients across a diverse range of sectors, from oil and gas to food and drink.

From the outset Nicola was determined to provide independent customs advice and support, and Bethan remains true to that vision, offering completely impartial, unbiased advice driven solely by your best interests.

Teamwork is also a cornerstone of the Bethan philosophy. Staff members work closely with each other to support and advise clients. They also work in partnership with those clients – after all, getting to know a business and its people is the best way to determine the most suitable customs and supply chain solutions.

How We Work

Values
Ethos
Approach

We are first and foremost a family business. Everything we do is underpinned by the core values that go hand-in-hand with that – honesty, integrity and reliability. Our relationships are based on mutual trust and professionalism.

Working in partnership with our clients, delivering the service you need in the style that best suits your business – that’s our tried-and-tested formula for success.

We work closely with you on a day-to-day basis – think of us as an extension to your team. So whatever your challenge or customs requirement, we’re on hand to help you along the way.

From the outset, our independent status has been a source of pride. It sets us apart. It means we can offer you completely independent and impartial advice and guidance, based solely on the best interests of your business.

Every service we provide is tailored to the needs of each individual client. Need support with a one-off customs authorisation application? We can help. Or longer-term customs support? That’s our bag too. From in-house secondments and remote support, and even our training courses - they can all be customised to suit you.

We approach each and every project with a forward-thinking, solution-driven mindset. Whether we are helping you to ensure compliance with HMRC regulations by streamlining customs processes to minimise risk, or applying for HMRC authorisations, we actively look for the most efficient and proactive solutions.

How We Help

Testimonial

Clarksons Port Services turned to Bethan Customs Consultancy for support with our AEO renewal application to the HMRC. The Bethan team were fantastic during our engagement discussions, listening to our requirements and developing the scope of work.

Innes Cameron,Director, Clarksons Port Services

Testimonial

We were successful in receiving our renewed AEO authorisation, and the support we received from Bethan exceeded our expectations, making this a streamlined process for us. We were so pleased with the service we received from Nicola and the team that we have built up a long-term relationship between the two companies and have a call-off agreement for when we need further customs assistance. We now regard them as one of our high-profile suppliers, which is down to their superb communication, co-ordination of tasks and professional manner – thanks Bethan!

Innes Cameron,Director, Clarksons Port Services

Testimonial

We have developed a close working relationship with the Bethan team over a number of years now. Following a request from HMRC to carry out a Customs System Audit, we initially requested that Bethan assist us through what could be a daunting process. The extensive experience that Bethan have of both customs procedures and dealing with HMRC meant that the technical questions could be addressed fully and accurately. Having them act as an intermediary also ensured that the audit ran smoothly. As a result, we had a very constructive dialogue with HMRC, with several positive actions being implemented that have made our customs systems more robust.

Stuart Donaldson, CEO, Strachans

Testimonial

The Bethan team also supported us through the application process for Authorised Economic Operator status for customs simplification (AEOC). Thanks in no small part to the team’s ability to marry our business objectives with the compliance and documentation requirements of HMRC, the process was extremely efficient, and we were successful in achieving AEOC status.

Stuart Donaldson, CEO, Strachans

FAQs

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