Herman

Hello all

Unfortunately I got caught by a speed camera going 76kmph in a 70kmph zone on my French registered scooter. I didn't think it was fast enough to break any speed limits but you live and learn. The fine is €45 if I pay immediately and apparently I get a point deducted from my French licence. I don't actually have a French licence, I still use my UK one, so I understand that the point is logged onto the French system where my starting total of 12 is reduced to 11 points for a period of 1 year. Also I understand that since I am resident in France, if I am a repeat offender the police can insist that I swap my UK licence for a French licence which will then be issued with the points deducted.

Am I right?

Thanks

Ka Ora!

Something like that, Although the trend seems to be a swap is needed if you end up in court "Tribunal du Instance or Tribunal du Grand Instance" for a driving offence. However even if you were to get banned for say drink driving, If you needed you driving license for work then driving then is still permitted.

But pay the fine and forget about it.

smithyandlisa

I was doing 80 in a 70 and paid the 45 euros very simply via internet. Never heard another thing. First time I ever got caught! I have an English licence. I understand you can check your points online, but I've never bothered to find out how.

cjm

I have a friend who collected 11 (I think) penalties and received a visit from the gendarmerie. At least one speeding infringement was his wife, but he was persuaded to apply for a French licence, having paid the fines. His licence has come with no points deducted, perhaps it is felt points cannot be deducted retrospectively. He still retains his UK licence.

Roger O

Three and a half years ago I was stopped in dept 66 doing 116 in a 90 zone.
The fine was (i think) 90 euros and I had to change to a French licence (gratis!) - it was written on the PV form! I was going to do it anyway as
I was 68 at the time and didn't want the hassle of renewing my UK licence which ran out at 70.

3 points were deducted from my new French licence - which, after 3 years were reinstated so I have my 12 back.

Don't know if this depends to a certain extent on the police, the department the speed (16kph over the limit) or a car against a scooter for the fine difference. I was told that once I had committed an "infraction" it was a national obligation to change the licence (I have resided in France since 1994 and am fully "in the system").

Herman

Thanks all, I'm not going to worry about then and I;ve paid the fine. The camera is very craftily positioned and clearly like in the UK the French authorities are using it as a tax. As you leave Paris in the west through Neuilly sur Seine you leave a 50kmph section and join a 90kmph tunnelled section through La Defense, however just in between is a very short stretch where they have popped up a 70kmph sign and a new cunningly hidden camera in a tunnel, which is the one that got me as my scooter was obviously in the middle of creeping up from 50 to 90. Must make a fortune off it as I noticed on the way home last night that several cars set it off. I predict a revolution.

frogblogger

Don't know about your part of the Hexagon, but here in the Vaucluse there has been a rise in the annual rate of road accidents and the mortality rate, so the powers-that-be have ordered a crackdown on driving offences. Apparently that means more static and mobile cameras around the department...

autohausdolby

Is it easy to get a French licence as well as your UK one?

cjm

Yes, but don't hand over any English paperwork if asked; copy it. French licence does not run out when you are 65. Old timers here will provide more info.

south_bound

Just out of interest, does anyone know what happens if a UK registered car is flashed by an automatic radar? I'd imagine that its an on the spot fine if you are physically stopped by the gendarme, but do tickets get sent out by tracking you down through the DVLA?

I've seen a lot of roadside checkpoints around the PACA region over the past few weeks, but up to now we haven't been pulled over - I don't know if its because they don't want to bother with foreigners, or what they have even been checking on.

TM_001

It all depends (ambiguous, I know...).

I drive Calais to Saumur (4-5 hours) every other week in my UK car. I've physically been caught once doing 155 on the motorway - on the spot fine and all bother. I've been flashed maybe 4-5 times (all under 15kph of the limit) and nothing has come of them. That said, i've been flashed twice in my french car, and the ticket turned up within 3 days.

So, my experience is they don't bother, but I'm SURE they keep a record and probably DVLA.

Also, as a small note, after doing the drive for 10 years, I can honestly say I always get there quicker when I follow the speed limit (I must be getting old!).

south_bound

I would have guessed as much, with availability of automatic number plate recognition and so on. I would wonder if a quick look on the computer during a routine check point, and they print out all the unsent tickets and an invoice to be paid on the spot? Not that I have to worry about that until now, but my luck would be to stray over the limit at just the wrong time...

TM_001

No, I don't think they do that, but it's a possibility. More likely they would only do it for serious offenses, but you're better off respecting the limits.....

Im_and_Er

The fine yes but tracking no and even if they did if you live in France DVLA will only have your old UK address which is on your licence and probably on the the vehicle's V5 and if that comes up as a dry hole they have idea whatsoever where you are now.

There is an EU directive aimed at harmonising driving licences and enabling cross border fines and penalties but the immense complexities of it mean that effectively it's unlikely that many of us here today are likely to see it in our lifetimes !

That said I understand that Italy have been sending motoring fines to UK residents so there is already a mechanism for other countries to discover your address however, as above, if you no longer reside in UK it's a dead end.

It's not hard to understand why so many in France stubbornly (and illegally) cling on to their UK plates

wetwang

Just got my French licence from Perigueux. Really easy and free. Just two hassle points.

1.The photo was not 100% within guidelines and they made me re-take it.
2. My wife had hassle proving her maiden name as it does not appear on a UK passport. They insisted on proof before they would release the new licence yet 2 weeks later when the licence was ready, a different clerk could not have cared less and simply handed them over without a glance at our paperwork..

I don't know how a previous poster managed to keep his old UK licence as they took mine from me and cancelled it through ther DVLA