Breathalysers No Longer Mandatory?

[RallyChamp]

Getting conflicting results. Current thinking is that they are no longer a mandatory requirement. Apparently a requirement that everyone ignored anyway - especially the French

[gt6]

The law never got past l believe

[IJWS15]

I've stopped carrying them and they have disappeared from the French supermarkets where I used to buy them.

Only time I have been stopped by the gendarmes was for a breath test and they never asked to see the testers

[LawrieC]

They've stopped putting the Gilet Jaunes in hire cars, and you used to see them on the backs of seats. Alcohol testers disappeared ages ago. Low emission zones don't appear to be signed or enforced. All they have left is speed cameras. Daft really

[Truckosaurus]

When they brought in the law to say you needed them they forgot to pass the extra bit to say what the punishment was, so there was no need to ever worry about it - and why the UK suppliers couldn't give them away after they stocked up on them.

By total coincidence didn't Sarcozy's mate own the company that made them?

[Aysedasi2]

IJWS15 said:

I've stopped carrying them and they have disappeared from the French supermarkets where I used to buy them.

Only time I have been stopped by the gendarmes was for a breath test and they never asked to see the testers

I have one that I bought just in case last year. Ironically last year was the first time I've ever been breathalysed. As I don't drink it was all rather amusing....

[ChocolateFrog]

Wasn't there a scandal around the company that supplied them and ties to the MP trying to bring the legislation in?

[LunarOne]

RAC states that the law was changed in 2020:
https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/travel/driving-in-euro...

I also asked my colleagues (I work for a French company) and none of them had ever heard of such a requirement!

[Natpen79]

They are no longer mandatory.
I looked into last year.

[loudlashadjuster]

I live a few miles from the French border, and am there all the time. Nobody I know carries them, and I’ve never bought any.

[lowdrag]

The problem with the law was the quality of the testers. The reading given depended on the temperature, so I believe the law was passed but never implemented. Living here, no one I know has ever bothered and they are not on sale anyway.

[LM240]

They were mandatory but there was some quirk that you couldn’t be punished (fine) for not having them?!

Never bothered.

[RallyChamp]

Excellent. That's that then..