Southampton Customs Help Please

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Hi
Can any one help..... I have just shipped my bike over from Malaysia it arrived in Southampton with no problems, the container with my bike in was then taken from the docks to a warehouse just outside Southampton, and unloaded, where i was able to walk around it and inspect it for any damage so far so good. Now i had opted to do the customs clearance myself as the shipping agent was in Bradford and it would mean I'd be waiting around while my paper work went back and forth up and down the country and as I'm staying 10 minutes from the customs and the warehouse and having crossed many borders around the world i thought this a good idea.
So armed with every scrap of paper i had for the bike i set off, and this is where the problems start. I was told that i can no longer bring a motorcycle in to the country, i had to import it, i asked about the possibility of using my Australian Carnet, no this is no good as its CDP and not an ATA, So i asked is there any other type of temporary import that i could use the answer was NO, i asked why and was told that individuals can no longer import vehicle's including Motorcycles into the UK not even on a temporary basis, this has to be arranged with UK customs before shipping to the UK and must be done by a shipping agent in the country of departure ( i can see that working if you ship back from Africa) I had a word with a local shipping agent he then got in contact with the Southampton customs and was told that because he was not the importer he could not import the bike for me......
So my question is has any one else had this problem, how did you get around it, or could you give me some advice as to what to do next. Cheers Skip