Ooh Dont start on that - I had enough of that Gag off Roy... humming the great escape everytime we stopped! Andy, No I haven't - as it only applied in France, and my UK licence is not endorsed. Plus I havent had a renewal yet - its due end of May....
Even the recorded delivery thing was all in French - our postie barely speaks English - let alone French....
Personally i'd be inclined to pay up. Yes, it stinks a bit, but you openly admit you were doing 115mph or thereabouts, which in the UK would probably earn you a bus pass. I'd prefer to be able to go into the neighbours and not have that nervous feeling at every border / customs stop, or when i saw a (probably armed) plod who wouldn't speak English long enough for you to protest. Even if the neighbours are best used as a route to Italy or Spain....
That's what you get when you live out in the sticks. We have to order special six fingered gloves and shorts with tail holes for the posties round there....:biggrin:
if they don't have proof you've got it, you did not get it. Now the worst that can happen is that they make you pay should they hold you when you would get over there again. That is a lot of if's... scenario 1 : you pay the euros up when asked for in France ( remember to take them) scenario 2 : you go up there 10 times more without ever being stopped so don't pay... chances are you won't pay and if you do, it's the cheapest option... i strongly disadvise to get nicked at 180kph+ in either Holland or Belgium... 1K £ or Bye bye bike... France, frogs or no frogs, is quite nice to go biking... and the shortest way to nice weather!
If it was me I would just ignore it. No they do not have your address. It was recorded signed for and it was not signed you can say I did not sign it as it was not me and blame it on their post office. Even better say nothing ever arrived and you know nothing. It will be to expensive for them to chase up but if you do want to contact them I would mention solicitor fee per hour and how much it will cost to deal with it, mention you already paid similar fine and finally say it is not your name on paperwork then direct them to send remaining correspondence to your solicitor. Cost should effectively scare them away. Points in another EU country are not transferable to UK so no need to even declare that to insurance company. They would never be able to translate the points to UK value. For example in Poland you have 24 points per 12 months. If you get points in February they are valid till February next year and then gone. If you get points in Feb then more points, that lead to ban, in August then your ban is only till Feb as then first set of points is erased and you are under 24 again. Depending how much you speed will translate to certain amount of points while I believe in UK 3 points to a certain limit then summons. Oh yes in PL and Germany they do not fine you for worst offence only they can choose to fine you for all and add up points so instant ban is easy. All that means forget about insurance company. At the end insurance company asks you if you had any bans and wants UK paperwork to confirm that. There will not be a flag on passport. I had a driving ban in Germany and two outstanding speeding tickets in Poland, no flag on my passport. I am not even entirely certain they have those outstanding tickets in computer as I got first one then second one 8 months later and they knew nothing of first. Maybe French are the same? Finally twice now in France I did not pay for motorway and still no enforcement.
I don't know your financial position or how frequently you visit France, but given the cost and effort of fighting it i'd be inclined to just pay it unless its going to cause significant hardship
it wont be expensive for them to chase you up,they wont.it will just stay on'the system' accruing more fines along the way!.and if its anything like holland and you try and leave,nope.first ya gotta pay!........pay it,ease of mind gav.
What about writing into a bike mag. I believe it's fast bikes who have that legal firm who specialise in bike cases and print a letter/ question every month. If it gets answered, free legal advice. If it doesn't then so what, it ain't cost you anything!
"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. " So was this a picture licence with your name and address on too.........as im sure its spelt correctly there, and the address is correct as the letter got there after i bet they asked if that was the correct address to return it to.....plus i bet you put your name and address on the correspondence to them asking where your licence was........
998GSB - If you wish you can send me a PM, we can then get in touch and discuss the matter in detail. Before offering advice, I would need to know more details of exactly what passed between you and the gendarme at the time of the original pull, and exactly what the recently received papers say. I would be able to understand papers in French well enough. I'd be quite prepared to offer advice - no obligation on you to follow it, of course. Pete
Here's my experience. As you know I got caught Speeding in France in Sept 2009. 170 odd kph in a 110 limit. I was at fault, bang to rights etc etc. The result was a 750 euro on the spot fine, a 6 month on he spot fine, and an invitation to attend a French court to explain my actions. I didn't attend court in the December, and a more th or so later received the judgement in the post. My fine was 750 euros including costs. It seems my initial fine was my deposit, so here was nothing extra to pay. I asked a French friend and in his opinion they charge you a decent amount knowing you won't turn up. At court they have the power to increase the fine or send you a refund. I also never received my licence back, but a call to DVLA revealed they had received it but couldn't return it to me. I had to apply for a replacement. If I were you I'd pay the fine and have done with it.
Guilty by admission and it sounds like you got off lightly. Pay up - move on. Fighting it could cause a whole lot more grief and expense or it could just go away if you ignore it. How lucky d'ya feel - punk ?
