I have just received a fixed penalty notice for the Kwaka. Apparently I was doing 160kmh in a 80kmh zone in Sable sur Sarthe on the fifteenth of this month. I must be super human, given that I was travelling up the M5 heading for Glasgow in the car at that time and the Kwaka was safely tucked up in the garage…
And I’ve always prided myself on not getting a speeding ticket.
This could be fun.
I blame Brexit, myself.
Edited to add a picture of the offending notice. Looks genuine. someone did ask if it could be a fake. I think not.
I have a feeling that this is going to be a story that will run and run. I’m sure that you will be relishing the coming battle with the bureaucratic mentality and I look forward to the entertaining blog posts about it.
Yes LR, have fun and above all, remember Agincourt – and remind Les Grenouilles at every opportunity.
Oh please, as if the state would get such things wrong, you must have misremembered. Just pay up like a good, compliant citizen and move on.
Yeah, right.
Personally I blame the manufacturer of the bike- they should never make bikes that can go that fast!
In the current blame society I think you will have a good case.
Well, yes, but it wasn’t my bike…
Do keep us informed LR, always wondered how you fight a French speeding ticket from the UK.
We will see. Of course, when we leave, I trust that this annoyance will no longer happen…
Suffice to say, I’m not paying them a penny piece.
As an addendum to this, I went onto the French website to see if I could contest it from there.
Ho hum… They want documents that don’t exist in the UK because of the way we register vehicles. It being different to the way they register them in France, so I ground to a halt. It wouldn’t let me proceed without the documents.
Incidentally, the last time I was in Sable sur Sarthe would have been in 1994.
But your Kwak obviously didn’t even exist back then, so where have they got the reg number from? Could our DVLA help do you think? I mean, I would be asking for photographic evidence which you have a legal right to. I suppose another option, if there’s no way of contact, would be to do nothing and wait for the French to come get you.
Well, no, but it did exist two weeks ago when the alleged offence occurred.
I’ll contact the DVLA. The police aren’t interested.
How come it’s in English? The French are fanatical about using their language.
It’s a UK registration. So I’m not surprised.
That was my first thought too. My second was: are the traffic violation systems and licensing/vehicle registration systems of each member nation really that joined up?
Yes, apparently so. They did make a thing about it going live in 2017.
When I worked with some Polish folk who owned a Polish registered VW somthing they had a similar letter arrive at their home address in Polish.
The way it ramps up if you don’t pay quickly and the lack of suitable appeal alternatives looks fake to me. I could well be wrong.
This might be informative :
https://www.thelocal.fr/20190228/tourists-inundated-with-speeding-tickets-after-ids-stolen-in-france
Mine has come directly from France, so most likely cloned plates.
Well here is where ‘your’ bike was!
location
That link doesn’t work. Not to worry, I have a fair idea as I’ve been that way in the past.
Okay, fixed the link. I know exactly where that is…
At least the French Authorities cannot take points away from your license. As you know the European system is the opposite to the U.K. I was flashed near Montauban recently in a U.K. Vehicle registered in France. I live here but still drive on my U.K. License. I’m waiting for them to figure out how to take away points I never had!