As some of you will remember, during the summer - I had a slight brush with French Plod on an autoroute and got busted for 181kmh - down to 176kmh on an empty motorway, in dry sunny conditions with no traffic on it.... Held my hands up, got fined on the spot - 135 Euro and Banned from riding in France for 4 weeks, at the end of which it was explained that my licence would be returned to me by registered post. 6 months on - still no licence, so I wrote to them back in October asking for my licence back - didn't get a reply and still no licence. 4 weeks ago I applied to DVLA for a replacement, which I am now in possession of. This morning in the post, I received a load of court papers in French - with no english translation, which appears to be a judgement from a Court Hearing in October, where in my absence I was found guilty of the offence, and fined a further 135 Euros plus 27 Euros Costs and banned from riding in France for another 2 months. There is a form of invoice, demanding a further payment of 162 Euro. These are the facts.. 1. I was not told by the Police at the roadside that I would be taken to court, and all the paperwork issued by them on the spot makes no reference to a further court hearing. As far as I was concerned, it was a Fixed Penalty at the roadside, paid in full and done and dusted. 2. I have not received anything from the Police or Ministry of Justice advising me that there was going to be a court hearing and therefore I have not had any chance to provide either a defence, or mitigation plea. 3. They have spelt my name wrong in the court judgement - therefore is it actually enforeceable ? 4. Should I pay this further 162 Euros they are now demanding ? Or just ignore it... If anyone knows the correct answer to this - I'd be interested to hear their thoughts. My initial inclination is to politely write back to them and basically set out the above facts - i.e. not given notice of trial, no opportunity to defend myself, told it was a Fixed Penalty, and that the proceedings are unenforceable as the name of the defendant is incorrect.
Truthful answer is you probably need advice from a French legal eagle but in this age of" human rights" it's hard to believe that this could firstly happen and secondly be upheld, the trouble is we're talking about France and they always appear to be a law to themselves. Best of luck with it.
Gav, I'd be inclined to consult a UK solicitor before corresponding with the French authorities. I only say this based on the experience of friends who bought property in France & then fell foul of a myriad of their regional & legal rules by trying to proceed as they would in the UK. They stumbled into quite a few local rules/laws that were not explained to them when they originally bought the property. I would hate you to fall innocent victim to more grief after trying to comply with the obligations of French law. I don't know whether these people can help: Motorcycle Accident Claims, Motorbike Personal Injury Solicitors There is a member on this forum who appears to have legal experience, I think his user name is Pete1950, wonder if he can help? Have a good Christmas regardless. RH
Cheers Rudolph - i'm kind of caught between a rock and a hard place - if i take formal legal advice - couple of hours of a lawyer's time is going to be £400 odd - and the fine ive been sent is 162 Euro.... so gotta balance the economics of it - just a bit miffed that I knew absolutely nothing about it... and it can't be right that they can hold a court hearing in my absence and not even tell me or allow me the opportunity to speak....
If you look forward to visiting France again then unfortunately you have to play along as it's 'their game' (as has been said) - I think Pete will pick this up soon and he's been a font of friendly knowledge to several in the past.
My name is wrong on all their paperwork though - so technically its not me! I hope Pete can contribute to this, as I'd be interested to know what the legal standing is.... as for visiting France - not overly bothered... the ride down through Germany and Austria to Italy is much more interesting.... plus you get to avoid Switzerland too!!!!!!
There's a lesson here. Don't go to France. Give the frogs nothing. Travel Hull to Rotterdam or Plymouth Santander. They don't deserve our British patronage just because of their silly little frog laws and triplicate stamped bureaucracy. If it were here you certainly would get away with it because of the errors but over there they probably have some form of special shrug and strange word with no consonants that waves it through legally!!! Good luck.
Just weeks before the Euro came in I got done in a car 60miles from Calais where I was heading. 190Km/ph I got a Fr5000 fine which took a bit of raising. Then 6 month later I got a summons from the Justice de Bethune requesting 750 Euro approx £500 =Fr5000. We had a native French chap at work so I dictated the letter telling them to ask the red wine smelling Gendarme that was on duty for the money. I was given a receipt but didn't have it after that period of time. They did back down. You will have to sort it Gav as you will have a flag posted by your passport number so they will get you eventually.
I had a similar incident some years ago, 201kmh and was fined around £200 however they didn't take my licence off me. Got further paperwork from the court hearing (in my absence) around 3 months later asking for some more money, I ignored this and have never heard anything further. I've been back to France a few times since however I've not been stopped again and as said above they didn't keep my licence so I doubt that they are joined up/concerned enough to get me now? Surely you could just apply to the DVLA for a replacement licence as you have 'lost' yours? :wink:
Dunno about France, but "I have a mate" who got done in Germany in a hire car, recorded letter sent, but signed for by neighbour (therefore, I guess no proof it was delivered to the intended recipient?), nothing else since. "Mate" has been back several times since with no problems at various ports of entry. It may cost them more to process than is worth chasing, and yes, just avoid giving them your hard earned, as I try to (after the delights of French customer service at Toulouse (sp?) airport). good luck, and merry Christmas, Pete
They didn't ask to see my passport when I got stopped - so wont have my passport number .... And won't find it if they do a search under the misspelt name....
Gav, if your name is incorrect, they've messed up. It's not you. Let's look at it like this: they get some guy for whatever crime, try him in abstentia and send the gendarmes over to pick him up. But they go to the wrong house. What do they do? Just throw some random person in jail? No. Write to them asking them to provide a translation then point out it's not you. Honestly, they won't bother you again. And if they ever do pick you up in France, have copies of the documents on your phone showing the wrong name. If you have your passport with you, they should see that the person found guilty isn't you.
they have got your address correct though havnt they.......how far out are the details of the name? a letter or two? bit different to locking up a black female dwarf, when the offender is a white male giant........ if you intend visiting there again even if its a drive through.........i suspect the cost effective way is to just pay up unfortunately.
Yes address is correct - it was sent recorded delivery but it wasn't signed for - postie just pushed it through the door anyway
