I got flashed by a speed camera on the motorway in Poitiers on Sunday. It was in a 70 limit and according to the sat nav I was doing 73 kph at the time. Oh well.

 

hi

i would have thought they got your details from the hire company

they may hold the hire company responsible and the hire company may still have your deposit card number and take it from your card

as normally when hiring a car abroad you sign something saying that you are responsible for all fines incurred

might be best to just pay it as sooner or later it will come around to bite you and will be a lot more

barry

 

Pay up and put it down to experience.

You WILL have signed something when you picked up the hire car to say you will accept responsibility for all fines etc incurred during the hire period, and yes the French authorities WILL chase you for payment.

Or chase the hire company who will pay it “on your behalf” then add an “admin fee” to it and persue you for the higher amount (and of course don’t forget they have your credit card details!!!)

The only thing I would suggest is that you check is the TIME of the fines just in case it was one of the hire company employees delivering the car to the depot (rather than you) who was speeding! Bit of a long shot though eh??

Being unfamiliar with the vehicle, and having your mind very much on “other things” you were clearly not paying enough attention to your speed (But getting caught FOUR times in one day is rather careless)

Andy

 

Agree with Andy, check the times as if you did not for example, take the car over until 1400 and the tickets are timed at 0900 - 1030 that would be your ONLY "get out clause".

But the onus is on you to prove that you could not possibly have been driving the car at the time indicated because you did not have it - good luck, you will need it because that then means persuading the hire car company that one of their drivers was responsible and they will all deny liability.......... and their "Admin fees" suddenly go up onto your credit card.

It would be possible also to block that credit card and ask for a new one - if done quickly tat would prevent the hire car company taking money from it, but you will then be pursued through the French courts where everything is in French and you are guilty unless you can prove that you are innocent......

Cheapest and easiest is to pay and put it down to experience......

 

I also guess it's less hassle and sleepless nights if you do pay up. Plus of course €45 (x4) is a damn sight cheaper than speeding fines in UK.!!!!!

Ray.

 

Flashed twice in France last week (by a speed camera?) saved my Dash Cam footage (under £100) including time and location to prove innocence.
Luckily I was in my own MH.

 

Ted

Good luck with that. I appreciate that you have dash can footage but is it timed and dated, along with GPS location. Even if it is the authorities COULD (will?) claim that it would be very easy for you, once you realised you had been flashed, to alter the time and date on your dash cam again drive down the same stretch of road again BELOW the posted limit.

I am NOT suggesting that is what you have done but, if “they” have photographic evidence it WILL be a huge uphill struggle for you. Don’t forget you will be dealing with a foreign legal system, in a foreign country, in a language you don’t use.

It MIGHT be worth considering ALL the implications before you decide to fight it. Many have tried in the past, very few have succeeded. It might just be better to pay the fine and walk away feeling aggrieved but not stressed out of your mind by months of legal wrangling.

Andy

 

I can't see the point of getting involved with a (probably) long drawn out argument with the hire company or the French authorities for the sake of £90.
In the context of the total cost of your holiday it's probably peanuts.
Bite the bullet, pay up and put the incident down to experience.

 

Point taken Andy, all relevant info on the clip including the 'flash' and the instant rollicking from the passenger seat.:frown2:
Spent too many years over the water to argue more than once:wink2:

 

well lets see it
looking forward to hearing the rollocking

barry

 

Come on, i'm sure you've heard it all before!:grin2:

 

Has anyone been done or KNOW of anyone been fined under the new legislation that allows funny foreigners to pursue us for breaking their speed limits? This is not the same as its a hire vehicle and easy for the authorities to pursue the hire car company.

I got flashed twice in Germany back in June and wondered if I might have a fine by now.

It's all wrong if you ask me. Who won Brexit anyway?

 

"It's all wrong if you ask me. Who won Brexit anyway?"

We did Barry, Hip, Hip, Hooray.

 

Those bloody foreigners don't like us, no change there then!.

ray.

 

I'm making no comment about Brexit but apparently the fines / disclosure thing is one way - i.e. British motorists can be pursued for speeding in Europe but not the other way around! Should we be surprised!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...k/news/2017/05/05/british-motorists-continent-face-640-speeding-fines-saturday/

 

Ted

By the sounds of it you might be in with a chance providing your dash cam records speed. It would be very difficult to see how a prosecution could succeed if the footage shows your speed at the point the flash fires off. I was forgetting that French cameras take a picture from the front rather than the rear.

Out of interest what was the limit and what speed are you alledged to have been doing? Just a thought but are they going for the speed limit on the road i.e. for instance excess 130 on a motorway with a car, or excess class limit which would, if a MH over 3500Kg be 90 on the same motorway?

If you have the speed showing then it’s Got to be worth a try so go for it and email “Them” a COPY of your dash cam video file.

Do let us know how you get on.

Andy

 

Andy........... Speed, Co-ords, Date, Time all shown.
Lived in Germany for 20+ years so I automatically convert KPH/MPH...plus most other Metric/Imperial figures.....I even go back to Chains/Links and Rods as a Surveyor in a past life.:nerd:
Will certainly report if there is any outcome:smile2:

 

The French system does NOT have the tolerance values that apparently exist in the UK, I believe that in the UK the Asslciation of Chief Constables stated that the maximum speed + 10% plus 2 is the lowest figure that you would be prosecuted for (this MAY have changed recently though....)

In France even 1kph over the limit is sufficient for a fine notice to be issued and the accuracy of any system cannot be challenged under French statute. If they say you were doing 51 kph and your system shows you were only doing 45, tuf. Their system is deemed accurate, yours is not.

The motorway system also seems to be able to mix the response from two vehicles to give a higher figure - we were driving at 95 on a motorway and were overtaking a lorry doing 70, somehow the system flashed up that we were doing 140+ and to slow down...... but no fine was ever issued - it appears it took the signal from both vehicles and came up with an anomaly..........

But once issued the chances of them revoking it are slghtly lower than the proverbial "snowball in hell". They are simply not interested and will double the fine AND issue Court procedings.....

 

I think I get the gist:surprise:
It's probably why we have only visited France for the past 3 years .....going elsewhere for the previous 50>
We at least had to have a look! 0

 

I'm sure I got flashed on a French motorway back in July. I was doing under the limit but maybe not for over 3.5 ton. I think I posted about it being odd. I am under 3.5 ton on a good day

Maybe I'll have a raft of dubious fines waiting on the mat back home
Maybe they are all out looking for me for none payment right now! I might be arrested at Calais!!!

 

With any luck you will. It'll keep the rest of us laughing for a week.

 

Oh Alan, how could you.............................:surprise::surprise::surprise::grin2:

Ray.

 

Have Johnny Foreigner countries actually started posting fines abroad now i.e. to Blighty?

If so can anyone advise which countries are involved and when it started?

Graham :smile2:

 

Have Johnny Foreigner countries actually started posting fines abroad now i.e. to Blighty?

If so can anyone advise which countries are involved and when it started?

Graham :smile2:

I think I asked that a while back and I've not heard anyone who has recieved a fine or multiple fines directly once back home. Maybe I'll be the first.

Somehow I doubt it. What are they going to do if you don't pay or dispute it? Too much of a faff probably but I could be proved wrong.

 

Looks like “Guilty till proven guilty” then?

At least in the UK if you can add an element of doubt you are given the benefit of it.

Good luck Ted but the portents don’t look too good do they?

Andy

 

Looks like "Guilty till proven guilty" then?

Especially so if you're British.

 

BUT, if it goes to a Court and you are found guilty in your absence, would then be liable for arrest by the Gendarmes if/when you cross the border into France again?

I do not know and am just playing Devil's Advocate as that is about the only way other than pursuing you through the UK legal system that I can see anything happening and the chances of a UK judge "doig you" for a possible offence in France must be close to zero. They will simply shrig their shoulders and ask; "How many Frenc lorry drivers or car drivers have been caught in the UK?"

The last figure I heard from Devon and Cornwall Police for outstanding fines for motorists caught speeding in their force area was just over £2.5 million in the 6 month period....... that's an awful lot if it is correct and I have no reason to doubt it as the BBC quoted it after a Freedom of Information request during 2016.......

 

As you suggest though, these are big "if's"...

I cant see it myself.

Graham :smile2: