jsbach

I've had another conversation with my friend (these are becoming increasingly tense and tiresome). I've tried to get her to read out the details of the letter she's received from the gendarmerie but she prevaricated. I asked her to photocopy it and send me a copy but I doubt it'll happen.
She said the phrase "1.224/1 Code de la route" appears on what seems to be a 4-page letter. She's also been told she needs to pass a medical before she can have her licence back.
I asked her more about her breathalyser test - she says no blood test was involved: from that, I think it means she wasn't over the higher of the two limits.

EuroTrash

http://www.easydroit.fr/code-de-la-r...nistration.htm

Garonne

It's drink driving.

http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affich...Texte=20090716

She'll have to not drink at all before her medical for at least two weeks or if her blood alcohol test is positive she'll be before the tribunal and her sentence will be more severe. That's how it works here.

Garonne

Not at all - if she was breathalysed and over the 0,8g by the gendarmerie breathalyser that is suffiecient for the heavier sentence as opposed to the 0,5 to 0.8g. The blood tests are only ever used as I've said previously for drivers incabable of giving a 'lung test' due to substantial injuries. She's in a mess,

Garonne

No offence taken ET! As I said way up the thread she'll be required to provide proof of avis d'impot, driving licence, utility bills, driving licence, proof of roadworthy of vehicle, etc at a prior hearing to the court which is all transmitted to the Procureur (Prosecutor) who then prepares the case for the court. This will be will when she will be 'found out'.

EuroTrash

A random thought - has the OP checked what record if any there is for the car in the UK? If it's been out of the country for 8 years DVLC have probably lost interest in it and it's fallen off the database, but just in case the gendarmes decide to liaise with DVLC, it might be as well to find out - forewarned is forearmed.
http://www.askmid.com/

jsbach

Thanks, ET. I checked this morning and it's still listed (no SORN or current tax).

EuroTrash

Oops. There might be a fair bit of back-tax to be clawed back if the two sides put their heads together and DVLC realise the car has been on the road UK reg but untaxed for years, and get contact details. Let's hope they don't.

cjm

Johann and ET; was going to post earlier - she may have (likely) ignored SORN corres from DVLA sent to last registered address, but if number plate didn't get a hit on a camera it would have slipped on to back burner. Hit would have triggered DVLA and police interest and number shared, including exit points from UK. They may think about back tax, but her personal situation would suggest a lost cause to get anything back.
Her nemesis is in France. Anything that springs from that (prosecution) will be. Perhaps she will get the support she so desperately needs. As Johann said that may best be delivered in prison.

jsbach

On a different tack, my friend has finally sold her house. I was wondering if she might have difficulty persuading the notaire it's her maison primaire since she's not registered herself in France. AFAIK, she's always paid the taxes d'hab and fonc. She certainly doesn't own another property but I wonder if proof might be an issue.

dmu

Apologies for pointing out the obvious, but couldn't your friend have told you this before now? Even if the Promesse de Vente was only signed yesterday after your last posting, it's obvious that the purchasers visited her house beforehand and must have shown enthusiasm, and she should have at least mentioned this to you, since it's been on the market for so long and you're worried about her finances.
But that's beside the point. At least the question of paying fines isn't a problem any more (although she won't get the money straight away).
Some one will come along concerning the Notaire and her (lack of) Residence status, and let's hope she is at liberty on the date of final signature....

EuroTrash

For a start it could depend on how the house is currently classified. The tax office will either have it marked down as a residence principale or a maison secondaire - the computer needs to know one way or the other in order to calculate the taxe d'habitation. If it's always been on the computer as a holiday home, and your friend has never declared her income as a resident, I think it's unlikely that a notaire would even consider treating it as a principal residence. However, if it was classed as a principal residence in the days when her partner lived there with her, and it has never been changed, I suppose there is a chance there might not be too many questions asked.

But at the end of the day, it's not the notaire who has the final decision, it's the fisc themselves. The notaire will make an assessment based on the information he has in front of him, and process the sale on that basis, but the fisc have the final say. If the notaire is in any doubt, he will delay handing over the money after the sale until he's looked into it more thoroughly. But even if your friend manages to persuade the notaire to put it through as the sale of a main residence, if the fisc subsequently decide that it was a holiday home, they will overrule the notaire and come after your friend for the extra money - this might be years later. If that happens, she will have to pay up and then try to prove her case. Which without any avis d'imposition, is going to be very tricky.

If by chance she was hoping to get the money through from the sale and make a quick getaway before the state impose fines and take steps to deduct them from the proceeds of the sale, it's going to be a race against time.

jsbach

The house sale seems to have happened very rapidly. She told me she'd had a promising viewing on Wednesday and the papers were signed yesterday.
I've no idea whether it's classified as a residence principale or not but my friend has just told me the notaire accepted it as such. As you say, what the fisc make of it is another matter indeed.
I'm assuming that, even if she ends up with a prison sentence, she can still sign the relevant paperwork for the house sale to go through.

dmu

OH has just said that the Notaire can visit an incarcerated vendor and get the papers signed in prison.

jsbach

I've spoken to my friend again and she's read out to me the codes on the two letters she's received. I've tried to make sense of them on the internet but my French isn't really up to it (nor is Google translate!). Rather than being about separate charges, it seems to me that they may all relate to the drink-driving charge.
She tells me she's not allowed to drive in France for 5 months and that the breathalyser reading was 57 (this puts her into the lower of the two categories, I believe).
The codes are:
L 224/1; L224/2; R224 - 4; R224 - 12; R224 - 14; and R224 - 17.
In a second letter, the following codes were listed:
1247/delit
L234/1; L234/2 and L 224/12

She also confirms that no mention of insurance has been made and that she presented her UK driving licence and logbook.