going to france?
Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 5:53 pm
borrowed from another site!! 
I have just returned from a very pleasant holiday in France & Switzerland (in a car, but the pricipal is the same). On the way back, just after the Peage just before traversing Rheims, I was overtaken & pulled over by a Gendarmerie car.
I was a good 15mph below the speed limit & could think of no rules that I could have broken, so was mystified as to why I had been stopped.
The Gendarme asked me for my licence & vehicle documents, which he retained. He told me that I had a radar detector in my car and I agreed that I did. He asked if I knew that it was illegal in France to posess a radar detector and I said no. It is legal in the UK to have a Radar detector powered up, in your vehicle.
He made me remove it & hand it & it's power cord to him and then told me to follow him to the Gendarmerie. After filling in the forms, he told me that he was confiscating the detector and that there was a fine 0f €750, in cash, payable before my car would be allowed to be moved from the Gendarmarie compound!! I was taken to a bank and had to flatten two accounts to be able to draw so large a sum (£534.85).
I told them that we are one Europe now & it is legal in the UK to have a detector but he would cut me no slack even when I told him that such a swingeing penalty for a victimless crime is a major deterrent to tourism in France. I told him that I will not go back to France again, in case I do something else which is normal & legal in the UK but which the French consider to be a misdemeanour & wish to bankrupt me for. When you factor in the cost of the confiscated detector, this has more than doubled the cost of my 12 day holiday!!!
The Gendarme pointed out that had he wished to push the point & say that the detector was in use, the fine would have been €1500. He could see that I was shocked & upset & provided a bottle of chilled water for me to drink.
I accept that I broke French law.
I do not complain at the detector being confiscated as a result
I do not fault the Gendarme, who was professional & courteous throughout
I object strongly to such an unreasonable fine
I object strongly to having my car impounded until I can pay cash
You can understand that this destroyed the de-stressing effect of my first holiday in four & a half years....
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! KEEP OUT OF FRANCE
I have just returned from a very pleasant holiday in France & Switzerland (in a car, but the pricipal is the same). On the way back, just after the Peage just before traversing Rheims, I was overtaken & pulled over by a Gendarmerie car.
I was a good 15mph below the speed limit & could think of no rules that I could have broken, so was mystified as to why I had been stopped.
The Gendarme asked me for my licence & vehicle documents, which he retained. He told me that I had a radar detector in my car and I agreed that I did. He asked if I knew that it was illegal in France to posess a radar detector and I said no. It is legal in the UK to have a Radar detector powered up, in your vehicle.
He made me remove it & hand it & it's power cord to him and then told me to follow him to the Gendarmerie. After filling in the forms, he told me that he was confiscating the detector and that there was a fine 0f €750, in cash, payable before my car would be allowed to be moved from the Gendarmarie compound!! I was taken to a bank and had to flatten two accounts to be able to draw so large a sum (£534.85).
I told them that we are one Europe now & it is legal in the UK to have a detector but he would cut me no slack even when I told him that such a swingeing penalty for a victimless crime is a major deterrent to tourism in France. I told him that I will not go back to France again, in case I do something else which is normal & legal in the UK but which the French consider to be a misdemeanour & wish to bankrupt me for. When you factor in the cost of the confiscated detector, this has more than doubled the cost of my 12 day holiday!!!
The Gendarme pointed out that had he wished to push the point & say that the detector was in use, the fine would have been €1500. He could see that I was shocked & upset & provided a bottle of chilled water for me to drink.
I accept that I broke French law.
I do not complain at the detector being confiscated as a result
I do not fault the Gendarme, who was professional & courteous throughout
I object strongly to such an unreasonable fine
I object strongly to having my car impounded until I can pay cash
You can understand that this destroyed the de-stressing effect of my first holiday in four & a half years....
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! KEEP OUT OF FRANCE
