French speeding fine UK licence
Jan 9th 2017, 9:26 am
#16
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Re: French speeding fine UK licence
Well according to our prefecture yes that's right. I took a copy of their email for my car should I ever get stopped again for a routine check.
Jan 9th 2017, 1:13 pm
#17
Austin. TX.
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Re: French speeding fine UK licence
The offense doesn not have to be a serious one either - and it is more likely to happen if you are stopped by the police rather than having an automatic camera catch you. If you are stopped by the police when they hand you the paper showing you what your traffic offense is then they can tick a box that says you must change your license.
I had a gendarme stop me, he looked at my license and told me that since I'd been living in france for so long I should have changed my license. Stupidly, I corrected him - Then the gendarme ticked the box for changing my license.
Jan 9th 2017, 1:27 pm
#18
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Re: French speeding fine UK licence
They can ONLY make you change your UK license for a French one if you commit a traffic offense. Otherwise you get to carry on using it.
The offense doesn not have to be a serious one either - and it is more likely to happen if you are stopped by the police rather than having an automatic camera catch you. If you are stopped by the police when they hand you the paper showing you what your traffic offense is then they can tick a box that says you must change your license.
I had a gendarme stop me, he looked at my license and told me that since I'd been living in france for so long I should have changed my license. Stupidly, I corrected him - Then the gendarme ticked the box for changing my license.
The offense doesn not have to be a serious one either - and it is more likely to happen if you are stopped by the police rather than having an automatic camera catch you. If you are stopped by the police when they hand you the paper showing you what your traffic offense is then they can tick a box that says you must change your license.
I had a gendarme stop me, he looked at my license and told me that since I'd been living in france for so long I should have changed my license. Stupidly, I corrected him - Then the gendarme ticked the box for changing my license.
Jan 9th 2017, 2:23 pm
#19
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Re: French speeding fine UK licence
They can ONLY make you change your UK license for a French one if you commit a traffic offense. Otherwise you get to carry on using it.
The offense doesn not have to be a serious one either - and it is more likely to happen if you are stopped by the police rather than having an automatic camera catch you. If you are stopped by the police when they hand you the paper showing you what your traffic offense is then they can tick a box that says you must change your license.
I had a gendarme stop me, he looked at my license and told me that since I'd been living in france for so long I should have changed my license. Stupidly, I corrected him - Then the gendarme ticked the box for changing my license.
The offense doesn not have to be a serious one either - and it is more likely to happen if you are stopped by the police rather than having an automatic camera catch you. If you are stopped by the police when they hand you the paper showing you what your traffic offense is then they can tick a box that says you must change your license.
I had a gendarme stop me, he looked at my license and told me that since I'd been living in france for so long I should have changed my license. Stupidly, I corrected him - Then the gendarme ticked the box for changing my license.
Jan 9th 2017, 5:07 pm
#20
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Re: French speeding fine UK licence
That's an interesting one isn't it. After all, strictly speaking, in order to register a car in your name in France you must be resident in France, and you will have duly toddled along to the préfecture with your proofs of residence to prove that you are...
Jan 9th 2017, 6:48 pm
#21
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Re: French speeding fine UK licence
Well you don't actually have to be resident to register a car in France, you just need a justificatif de domicile which is an EDF, GDF, Telecom or mobile phone bill. Plenty of Brits, Belgians and Swiss with secondary residences in France own French-registered cars.
Jan 9th 2017, 7:06 pm
#22
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Re: French speeding fine UK licence
Well you don't actually have to be resident to register a car in France, you just need a justificatif de domicile which is an EDF, GDF, Telecom or mobile phone bill. Plenty of Brits, Belgians and Swiss with secondary residences in France own French-registered cars.
Jan 9th 2017, 9:42 pm
#23
Born again atheist
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Location: Europe (to be specified).
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Re: French speeding fine UK licence
Well you don't actually have to be resident to register a car in France, you just need a justificatif de domicile which is an EDF, GDF, Telecom or mobile phone bill. Plenty of Brits, Belgians and Swiss with secondary residences in France own French-registered cars.
Neither the vendor, the insurance company, nor the Préfecture suggested such a thing. Moreover, at the time, I had a non-EU DL.
Jan 10th 2017, 10:33 pm
#24
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Re: French speeding fine UK licence
Not so.
Under the rules of the directive you are allowed to own, retain and use a vehicle in France if you are a second home owner of a property in France and your actual residence is in another EU state.
Local foncs misunderstandings is another matter.
Jan 11th 2017, 8:41 pm
#25
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Re: French speeding fine UK licence
Jan 12th 2017, 11:16 am
#26
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Re: French speeding fine UK licence
Very quick usually.
The law is perfectly clear, in fact. If you simply asked the prefecture whether or not you needed to change your licence, and didn't mention the possibility of having a contravention, then what they said was entirely correct.
https://www.service-public.fr/partic...osdroits/F1758
"La demande d'échange n'est pas obligatoire sauf en cas d'infraction entraînant une mesure de restriction, de suspension, d'annulation du permis ou une perte de points."
The law is perfectly clear, in fact. If you simply asked the prefecture whether or not you needed to change your licence, and didn't mention the possibility of having a contravention, then what they said was entirely correct.
https://www.service-public.fr/partic...osdroits/F1758
"La demande d'échange n'est pas obligatoire sauf en cas d'infraction entraînant une mesure de restriction, de suspension, d'annulation du permis ou une perte de points."
Jan 12th 2017, 11:57 am
#27
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Re: French speeding fine UK licence
I did have two passports (GB/CDN) though but I don't recall being asked about that.
Jan 17th 2017, 12:09 pm
#28
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Re: French speeding fine UK licence
Well two weeks has past and no letter in the post? Am I safe? How long do French fines take to come through? Have read 2-4 days.
Last edited by bobbi2; Jan 17th 2017 at 12:35 pm.
Jan 17th 2017, 2:06 pm
#29
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Re: French speeding fine UK licence
You're safe, if it was coming it would have arrived by now.
Jan 19th 2017, 10:08 pm
#30
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Re: French speeding fine UK licence
Interesting. As noted, at the time of registering a car in France using my secondary home address in France, my primary residence was in Canada (and my DL was an Ontario issued one).
I did have two passports (GB/CDN) though but I don't recall being asked about that.
I did have two passports (GB/CDN) though but I don't recall being asked about that.
Ignorance of the petty bureaucracy is no excuse.
Guillotine I should think.