Stuart H

British drivers caught doing more than 25mph over the speed limit on French roads will have their licences confiscated on the spot

Motorists without a co-driver could be left stranded and face bills of up to £2,500 to get their cars back.

British drivers will get their licences back when they leave France under the scheme which came into force yesterday. The French driving bans will soon be enforced across the European Union.

French Police have said they can use their discretion but will not make any distinction between French and foreign drivers.


[This message has been edited by Stuart H (edited 28 October 2000).]

millband

Mmmm... and I've just been reading the article in Autocar about the EVO they've been running which says "...after doing 120mph across France..." and thinking how nice that would be Oh well.

I've never actually seen a Police traffic car on an Autoroute during any of my trips over there (or in Italy come to that), while you seem guaranteed to see a traffic car in Britain about every 50 miles or so on the M-way.

I wonder what the chances of getting caught are?

S

logiclee

Stuart,

Whats this co-driver thing?

Lee

ChrisB

Somebody else in the car with a valid license who can take over the driving?

Could be wrong though.....

Chris.

Stuart H

erm......co-driver = passenger

SimonH

Year before last we drove down to the South of France and I don't think we saw a single traffic fed. This year when we did it I noticed quite a lot more, mostly trying to hide behind bridges etc. I also met one in a service station who relieved me of my radar detector (oops) and then drove me to a cash machine so I could give him the £500 on the spot fine he was after. Hmmm. Muppets.

ChrisB

Yep, radar dectectors are very bad for your health in France.

Even having one in the car (not switched on or plugged in) will probably land you in the creek.

Chris.

Dave P

Was ploughing down through France earlier in the year at approx 120mph (with 3 co-drivers only one old enough to drive though) when my wife said "Police", and there bold as life were two Police motorbikes, both in short sleave shirts. I slowed drew level and then tucked in behind them.

Followed them for about 45 minutes at 100 - 110 mph. I don't reckon they bother too much.

Dave

p.s. aslo have a friend who's a policewoman in the UK. She said the paperwork involved in dealing with speeding foreigners is usually just too much effort.

Hunk

i have a piece of video we shot in the north of France on a Kawa 1200. We managed to get 320 on the dash with the cam mounted on the fueltank. Big fun for a mile or so. Big jailtime if caught i expect after reading this all. Next time better go to Germany although the autobahn is busier than the autoroute.

boomer

At least we are maintaining a reciprocal agreement in the UK, by confiscating French driving licences for speeding drivers over here (NOT!).

I have driven quite a lot in France, and speeding is certainly not the biggest problem with regards to road safety.

Considering the enormity of the on-the-spot fines, both for speeding or for having a radar detector; the French Police are light-years ahead of the game for revenue generation!

mb

Yex

I'll back this up with a short story about my vet and his TVR Speed 6. Missed his turn-off on Autoroute coming back from brothers house so 'gave it a bit of stick' on way back to it. He was stopped and fined lots for speeding, had his license confiscated, and then had his radar detector spotted and confiscated which led to an even larger fine and a court summons. He then had to contact his brother who lives 200 miles away to get to the town he was taken to so he could drive the TVR back to blighty, and then fly home himself.

Stuart, my vet, won't tell me how much it has cost him so far (he has still to attend the court hearing ) but I'm glad my dogs are covered by insurance as I'm sure his fees are about to go up.

Yex

spence

And all the Europeans can do what the **** they like in the UK and pretty much get away with it!!

Bit like the road tax thing when you go to Swizerland.

If you are a lorry you have to pay French road tax as well... don't see many of them paying UK road tax... dare say that would be a perfect excuse for them to have another port blockade.

Tossers!!

harryh

I always do my utmost <I>not</I> to be a racist. The exception that proves the rule? The Franch

Jerome

After reading this I don't think I'll ever drive a car with UK plates on in France again. Last year drove for 2 weeks in a French hire car, and didn't get any of the usual grief to be expected from the French drivers & Police. Anyway, like the poxy country doesn't get shed loads of money from us Brits through tourism etc. Grrrr!

Stuart H, maybe you could reciprocate the favour the next time you see some Frenchie driving round your way?

Jerome.

Mungo

Have only ever seen 1 police car on French autoroutes, and that was a Renault 4. Chances of him catching you? zip.
Hopefully he won't be tooled up with lots of nice radar equipment in the future....