Les Flics et Les PHeurs

Lead-footed Brits en route to Le Mans offer rich pickings for French traffic cops - here's what you need to know

So it's that time of year when the raison d'etre of many PHers really comes to the fore and the call of Le Mans is impossible to ignore, says PistonHead's very own lawyer legalknievel from Mary Monson Solicitors

But what are UK drivers' experiences with Police chez our Gallic neighbours? If you scan the internet it looks pretty grim. Indeed, most of the useful info in English is actually on the PH forums. As you'd expect, a range of conflicting opinions exist, and all of them pretty confidently expressed. What we'll do here is try and sort out fact from fiction.

All the gear...
One concern regards the consequences of not having what the Le Plod Francais consider necessary safety equipment on board your car. This includes a breathalyser, a warning triangle and a high visibility jacket, and the bottom line is that you face a fine if you are stopped by police and don't have them. Likewise if you don't have your lights converted for French roads.

But the main cause for internet turmoil appears to be the consequences of speeding in France, especially on a trip where they know that (ahem) enthusiastic driving can be predicted.

Now it's tempting to debate the rights and wrongs of police setting up production line speed traps on major tourist routes with the aim of nabbing UK drivers, especially ones with high end performance cars and travellers cheques in the back burner. But it's the reality, and this article isn't going to change it. If you end up tangling with the police in a foreign country, you're automatically more vulnerable, and it's worth knowing the score.

(le) bum rap
Your correspondent has a fairly intimate knowledge of criminal and road traffic law courtesy of Rumpole, Police Camera Action, and of course regular trips for my clients to courts around the country. As sources of knowledge for the French law, they are all of questionable use. So we asked Loic Guerin how things work across the water. He's a Parisian criminal lawyer who thankfully has better English than our French, and has represented a number of Brits who have fallen foul of the law in France.

Over the Channel there are broadly two types of speeding offence (you may find the information goes in quicker if you resist the temptation to read these bits in an Inspector Clouseau voice). The first is an infraction. This is a speeding offence within 30km/h of the speed limit, and usually carries a fine of 135 euros. The police will sometimes go with you to the cash machine to collect the fine. This is more common for foreigners, as without it the only other security to ensure resolution of the case for them lies in taking your car or simply arresting you.

Your licence can also be seized, and this means your passenger, if they can prove insurance cover, driving from there. Apparently seizure of the licence does happen fairly regularly.

Dans la merde
The second type of offence is much more serious, and worth considering if you're tempted to get keen with the right pedal. Get caught doing 30km/h over the speed limit and you are the Delit category of offence. This is the French equivalent of a felony (US) or indictable only offence (UK), and is tried in the French equivalent of a Crown Court. Here in the UK, you generally have to be doing twice the speed limit, and also be separately charged with dangerous driving, to find yourself in a Crown Court or risk prison.

And, even then, unless you crash it's often avoidable. Our French cousins take a different approach. 140km/h on a 100km/h Autoroute and you are looking at a 1,500 euros fine, the possibility of arrest, detention for a day or two in a beautifully furnished French police station, and a trip to court where you could even face a further prison sentence.

This level of speeding will also often result in seizure of the car. In French law there are two types of car seizure, administrative and judicial. The first can be done by a police officer, and the second by the judge at court. This means that a police officer (who you mishandle because 130km/h doesn't seem that much in the UK) has the right to make your life very difficult, and although the judge may later reverse that seizure, it'll be weeks later, which seems to defeat the object of a court. Even M Guerin concedes, in language that I suspect few British lawyers would have the sense of poetry to use, that this part of the French law is 'a bit schizophrenic'.

Grass isn't greener
To put the difference in speeding attitudes between the UK and France into perspective, doing these types of speed on a UK motorway would probably get you points if stopped at the roadside. A few more miles an hour and you'd probably get a court appearance by summons followed by five or six points or a ban of a few weeks.

Going by what M Guerin says it looks like the UK has a much more liberal attitude to speeding. And the upshot appears to be that the internet scaremongering is basically true, or in some cases even understated. If you go to Le Mans this year, and value your car and your liberte, then stick it on cruise control and whack some Serge Gainsbourg on the radio. Going anywhere fast in France, especially when they know you're coming, appears to come at a fairly grand prix.

Dos and don'ts if you're stopped by the police.

Do this!

Be apologetic. Sheepish and cooperative works a lot better than smart and confrontational.
Have licence, insurance, and proof of ownership of the car (logbook etc) with you. They can't check it on the database like in the UK.
Talk. The officer may give you a break.
If it is looking serious, as in car seizure or future court appearance, get a French lawyer like Loic Guerin +33(0)143 29 85 05 on the phone. (PH has told him he may get a call or two!)
If the worst comes to the worst, get paperwork for everything from the officer, and don't give keys or cash without a receipt.

Don't do this!

Don't be aggressive.
Don't show frustration.
Don't show disrespect the officer. He may well think it's as much of a waste of time as you do, but he'll never come round if you're off with him.

Mary Monson Solicitors would like to thank Law offices of Loic Guerin, Paris for their assistance with this article.

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