Ulfar Norddahl worked with general cargoships from north Spain carrying wines, sherry, onions and tomatoes on pallets from a wooden shed inside a warehouse at Liverpool docks.

It was to give him a taste of customs' procedures and captains’ values.

“It was decided with shippers in Spain to send a case of each of the wines on every shipment ‘gratis’ to stop pilfering as there had been many complaints from receivers that they were missing bottles," he said. "I had the shed full of wine to give to the dockers when they wanted a bottle, and the pilfering stopped.

“One day, two customs officers came to my shed and asked what I had in there. I explained the ‘free’ samples, but they told me duty would have to be paid.

“After a lot of ‘argie-bargie’, I suggested they had a bottle of each of the wines in the cases, and they smiled and went on their way.”

When a large ship belonging to a north African national line arrived in Liverpool, the master asked for three chandlers to be sent on board with price lists, so he could choose the best one.

“The master was from Marseille, and the first thing he asked was: ‘Do you speak French?’ I answered promptly: ‘Oui, monsieur!’

“The captain then told the other chandlers they could leave; they looked surprised but knew I spoke several languages so did not argue.

“The master then shook my hand and said: ‘Congratulations, you do not speak French but took the initiative — you are a businessman. I want good service and supplies swiftly, please allow 10% commission for me’.

“I agreed as it was a normal request. We supplied everything and the bill came to £30,000. I brought £3,000 commission to him.

“He was so surprised that I paid in full — as many chandlers would say it was not possible to pay commission on everything.

“In fact, he was so pleased he gave me £300 back to buy my wife a present. In 1978, that was a lot of money. It pays to do the agreed deal!”