French legal advice please

A friend was stopped and fined €135 and had his licence confiscated for three months. He was apparently doing 145kmh in a 90 Kmh zone.
Roll on 3 weeks and the French authorities have written to him at home in the UK & insisted that he has a medical examination by one of a panel of approved doctors in the Jura department (where the offence took place) before his licence is returned. There is no option to have a UK medic complete the questionnaire
1. What are the implications of not replying & not going to France to see a doctor? (He could apply to DVLA for a replacement licence)
2. Is it worth arguing with the French judiciary over inconsistencies in the paperwork - fined for 145, paperwork from gendarme says 143, paperwork from court says 135?
3. Paperwork now received from the court says 4 month ban, not 3 months as advised by gendarme. Should this be challenged?

Friend is a classic sports car racer, & FWIW was taking part in a competition accompanied by the Garde Nationale (?) - high level motor cycle police who eased their passage on non-competitive sections often at speeds over the limit.

Finally, sensible answers only would be appreciated. My pal knows he was in the wrong, but could do without the hassle of taking time out to visit a deserted area of rural France (I may take time off to drive him) just to pay €35 for a doc to complete a multiple choice double sided A4 multiple choice Q & A sheet.

Let the above be a cautionary tale to the many PHers heading to France this summer.

Thanks for your help

Je ne pense pas que vous êtes susceptible d'obtenir des conseils sur le droit français sur un site de petrolhead Royaume-Uni/

Those cheese eating surrender monkeys don't have a say regarding our sovereign Countries laws.

French w.ankers.

That's a new one, never heard of that requirement before! Without being rude, is the fellow in question exremely old or doddery such that the gendarmes could have recommended that his aptness to drive should be checked? I can't think what other relevance a medical examination could have in such a case - he's already been sanctioned for his offence.

The question about 3 or 4 months and whether he should appeal the sentence really depends on whether not being able to drive in France for such a period is a problem. Paying a french lawyer to try to reduce the sentence is going to cost him a lot more than the 135€ fine!

The Brits, eh? Doncha love 'em? When they're not complaining about Johnny Foreigner coming over here and doing just exactly as he pleases with impunity, they're complaining about not being able to go to over there to Johnny Foreignerland and do just exactly as you please with impunity.


Not you, OP. Just a certain type of Brit that pops up quite often on car fora.

This is how the system works:

There are 5 categories of "contravention" (offence).

- Categories 1-3 are just a fine.

- Category 4 (between 40 and 50 km/h over the limit) is broken down into two offences.

- Category 4 (normal) is a 135 fine

- Category 4 A, the one which happened to your friend, is a "rtention immdiate" (licence confiscated). It is essentially up to the relevant Gendarmerie or Police department to decide.

- Category 5 is always a "rtention".

After the confiscation the Prfecture (like a local authority, but with a lot more powers) has 72 hours to decide on an administrative suspension of the licence (or for a foreigner, a ban from driving in France).

If the person lives in France, the licence stays at the Prfecture during this time, otherwise it should be posted back to the person's home address.

The Prfecture can ban someone for up to 6 months.

For French residents, any ban longer than 2 months (and any alcohol or drug driving offences) carry the requirement for a medical before the licence can be returned.

At some point after the offence, the matter will be referred to the Tribunal de Police (similar to UK Magistrates' Court) for sentencing. Most are dealt with by "Ordonnance Pnale" (summary judgement with no need to attend court).

The court also decides on a suspension.

Important: The ban imposed by the Prfecture is completely independent of the court ban, but the former is deducted from the latter.

Example: Joe Bloggs gets banned for 45 km/h over the limit. Licence confiscated. Banned by Prfecture for 3 months. 2 months later, the court imposes a fine and 4-month ban.

The time already imposed by the Prfecture is taken into account, so only two more months to serve than the original administrative ban.

The letter received by your friend with the longer ban is the "Ordonnance Pnale", which your friend has one month to challenge if they wish to argue their case in court.

The requirement for a medical is not right, and must be challenged. I would first write a strongly-worded letter to the Prfecture, outlining the fact that the person is not a French resident, and that the wrong procedure has been followed.

It may be simply a question of rectifying the procedure, and replacing the "notification de suspension" with a blue "interdiction de conduire sur le territoire franais" form.

At the same time, give the DVLA a ring and explain the situation. They should have no problems re-issuing a licence.

The ban most certainly does not cover the UK, in any case.

DO NOT drive in France until the ban is up.

Hope this helps. If you would like help wording a letter, send me a private message.

Bien Sur. (CBA to do circumflex, sozzer). I doubt that smegmore is admitted at any Bar or otherwise qualified to give any legal advice, or that he regularly gives free and sensible legal advice in SPL as some people do; and I and would be pleasantly surprised to learn that he knows any French that he doesn't get from Google, but if stalking me to make ineffective jibes keeps him happy who am I to complain?

Not quite right.

A record is created in the French national driving licence database which will show the ban.

If stopped for a check, this will show up if the officer decides to check the person's details.

Granted, they often won't bother checking this database if you are driving a UK-plated car with a UK licence, but a record is kept.

I'll try to explain a little better.

It is important to distinguish between speed camera tickets and offences recorded by real live police officers.


1. Speed camera tickets
For offences dealt with by the CACIR in Rennes (Speed cameras), most of the system is automated. If the fine is paid by the registered owner, case closed. Le paiement de l'amende éteint l'action publique. Point.

After payment, what happens is that data about the offence is transmitted to the FNPC (Driving Licence Database Centre) in Place Beauveau, Paris, where a search is carried out either with the driving licence number or the person's name and date of birth.

If their driving licence record is found the points are deducted. If not, nothing happens. So in this case, no lost points are recorded against a foreign licence-holder's name.

All of this happens automatically, thousands of times a day. It is simply not possible to follow up instances where no licence record is found, which could be for any number of reasons.

2. Speeding offences where the driver is stopped.

If a driver with a French licence is stopped on the spot, the officer takes down their driving licence details. When they return to the gendarmerie/police station, they enter the details of the offence into the computer. The process is the same as for the automatic tickets - data transmitted to FNPC and points removed.

If the person is a French resident with a licence from an EU country, what is supposed to happen is that a temporary file is created on the FNPC with the person's details, which will be found during the search, and the points will therefore be deducted. This file will form the basis of their new physical French licence, after the EU licence is exchanged.

This is an obligation if you are caught speeding as a French resident with EU overseas licence. However, many officers do not know how to do this procedure, which means that the obligation to exchange the licence is not followed up. Some Gendarmeries are hot on this, however, and will phone/visit the person to make sure they do exchange their licence.

The situation is different where the licence is confiscated. The process is not dealt with by the police/gendarmerie, but sent to the Prefecture, who will always create a FNPC file, because they need to do so in order to produce the relevant paperwork (interdiction de conduire sur le territoire français).

So, to re-iterate, licence confiscations are recorded, and will show up if the officer stopping you decides to run your details through the FNPC.

As for points "lost" on a foreign licence, most of the time they are not recorded, it really depends on how switched on the relevant Gendarme/Police brigade are relating to such matters.

Points can only begin to be deducted once the FNPC file is created.