Speeding in France warning! Roll On Brexit!

[tode]

Roughly in the area from Mortain/Vire across to Avranches, and up to 150km south - withiin easy reach of Poole/Cherbourg crossing (Brittany Ferries). I am in Mortain now.

Hi Umble,
La Manche is is one of the rainiest départements in the region Have you thought of looking more to the South-West (towards Rennes), where it's noticeably drier and warmer ? The A84 gives a good connection to Cherbourg and Ouistreham and is one of the (very) few free motorways in France.

Happy hunting! For info, rainfall map of France:

 

[ajlsl600]

it does rain a fair bit. but. its lovely countryside . we looked at going further south, but on balance we found that ease of access to getting on ferry to go see kids and picking them up ! ( we are an hr from cherbourg ) meant that was best for us . most of our summers have been great .its always a little warmer than the uk. if you plan to go come less and or have less uk ties then further south can be a better idea if yr planing on living here yr round, if its a hol home only it does not really matter. ,the weather is also better in Portugal and there are financial advantages but the travel is more hassle/costly especially when the bucket shops bale out .

 

[LostKiwi]

From a travel perspective I don't think I'd want to be too much further south than where we are. From Cherbourg it's 5 1/2 hours, Calais 7 1/2 hours and Oustriham is 5 hours. St Malo is closest at 4 1/2 hours.
Calais has over £60 tolls whereas Cherbourg is under £20. The car is excellent (as mentioned).
Typically we leave Northamptonshire early am and arrive at the house early evening. Typical run times are:
Home to ferry 3 hours.
1 hour wait at ferry.
1 hour crossing (Calais) or 3 hours (Cherbourg summer) or 5 hours (Cherbourg winter)/Caen).
Then 5 to 7 1/2 hour drive.
Costs pretty much balance out after you take tolls and fuel into account.
Due to ferry times (when not using Calais) we tend to come over via Cherbourg (and drop in at AJs for coffee) and go home via Caen.
The St Malo route is an overnight which is excellent if you want to maximise time there.
If you get a Brittainy Ferries Club Voyage card they give 30% discount for you and 10% for friends and family.

 

[umblecumbuz]

Have friends around the area I'm in now, and need reasonably fast ferry access for to-ing and fro-ing.
The weather is not a significant factor - I always have Gozo f I want to fry.

 

[curious]

We're all getting them. I received four this week for a trip to the Alps in September. A mate's daughter received two this week as well.
One of them was for 138kph in a 130kph, speed used 131kph. Not much in the way of leeway.

 

[anglaslt]

Is there no time limit on speeding offences ie you have to get a notice within X number of days/weeks?

4 1/2 months seems a bit long?

It depends upon the Country's regulations. Here in LT my wife received her penalty notice 6 months after the crime.

 

[Ken_R]

Roughly in the area from Mortain/Vire across to Avranches, and up to 150km south - withiin easy reach of Poole/Cherbourg crossing (Brittany Ferries). I am in Mortain now.

Have a look around the area of Lac de Guerledan. Plenty of good dining, boating and water sports. Even artificial beaches, along with Forestry for walks/hiking.

 

[gliggsy]

Me too, just received a penalty speeding fine of 45euros, 129kph in a 110 zone on the A20 Paris to Limoges from mid September, will pay it but I did think the French speed limit signs were very ambiguous and in all honesty thought I was travelling legally, hey ho !!!!!!!

 

[ajlsl600]

many great areas ,also a good number of brits around mortain if that floats yr boat. i think one can be fairly happy wherever one makes ones home. we are, its generally a bit of a compromise as far as location is concerned, we have been going to portugal for over fifteen yrs and wanted to move there,we looked at several places off the beaten track and in the end it was just too far from the kids and aging folks so normandy is where we are and now WE are the aging folks !!!! one of the BIG advantages is to take advantage of prices in the uk AND france i can and have hopped over and back the same day to pick something up under such circumstances including our first A class, garden furniture from poole, even a trailer load of wood once ( english wood is straight ) french wood , in my experience only,if you nail it down 5 min after you get home with it ! so as said during our 15+ yrs our proximity to poole has worked very well for us .

 

[ajlsl600]

Me too, just received a penalty speeding fine of 45euros, 129kph in a 110 zone on the A20 Paris to Limoges from mid September, will pay it but I did think the French speed limit signs were very ambiguous and in all honesty thought I was travelling legally, hey ho !!!!!!!

a lot of limits n france changed to 80 kph from 90kph on N roads this summer and they were VERY slow changing the signs and smart enough sending out penalties to people .

 

[Uta]

Hi - I just wanted to note to the OP that there is software available that allows you to add speed cam locations to your sat nav, including Mercedes fixed sat navs (such as POIBase). This makes getting speed tickets considerably less likely if you are travelling in unfamiliar territory, and the majority of the changed FR speed limits have been updated in decent POI databases. Please note however, that speed cam warnings are illegal in France, as are I believe generic "police" warnings which were sometimes used to circumvent this by systems such as TomTom, so its a "use at own risk" issue.

 

[Capra]

I drove in France last year, and that was a lot of the toll roads. The 80kph sections were really boring, but we still had a lot of cars coming past us. I know there were some 120kph sections, but I thought there were also some 140kph bits. On that tips there were two cars, oddly enough, the other driver received a speeding ticket three weeks later and nothing for me.

 

[LostKiwi]

I thought there were also some 140kph bits.

No 140 kph bits anywhere in France as far as I'm aware.

 

[Conor]

I'm not sure Brexit will make a difference. For example, there is a direct treaty between Ireland and England regarding this type of thing, where details of offences get exchanged and licence points can be applied.

I'm not sure if something like this exists with other countries.. I am Irish and was on the lookup for Mr Loophole....

 

[d215yq]

Nothing to do with Brexit.

Any demand coming to me 6 months after my recent trip and I would be doing a lot of reading on Pepipoo forums etc. If UK non council issued parking fines are generally not permissable in a UK court (I believe there is still no precedent set when it's on private land of one of these being enforced successfully) then I really don't see how something done overseas and chased by a "debt collection agency" could ever end up in court.

I had this all with an unpaid Dartford toll crossing in my Spanish registered car. Explained to them I was not sure of the offence and believed it maybe wrong but I'd pay just the toll and not the fine and they weren't interested and just kept sending letters upon letters. Both of the offences (6 months apart) escalated from 100ish to 300 before they stopped sendign them altogether. That was 4 years ago now. I really can't see why anyone would pay a speeding fine from a foreign country unless actual real examples of poeple being prosecuted for similar and successfully losing could be found, and not just hearsay.

As for "not wantign problems when you go back", the debt has already been assigned to a debt collection agency and therefore the French government will have no idea, nor interest what the outcome is. They will have their income from it (probably at something like 10c on the dollar). These company's business model is to buy unenforcable debt at cheap rates and then rely on threatening letters to get enough back to make a profit.

In spain we have a national "list of unpaid debts" which banks access when you apply for a mortgage. It's interesting that bank's policy is to ignore any telephone company or parking enforcement company entries as they are both known for not successfully prosecuting anyone and using unethical and legally incorrect procedures for chasing/assigning debt.

 

[Capra]

No 140 kph bits anywhere in France as far as I'm aware.

Must have been 120kph. Nice roads I thought.

 

[LostKiwi]

Must have been 120kph. Nice roads I thought.

Usually 90/110/130kph

 

[Capra]

Usually 90/110/130kph

Final answer 130kph. Felt faster as I was in Corsa.

 

[JohnArnoldBrown]

First time I've heard anyone justify Brexit by the fact it will allow speeding in France(even if it won't).
Fits with the general guillotine-as-a-cure-for-toothache philosophy, though.

 

[rorywquin]

Final answer 130kph. Felt faster as I was in Corsa.

I imagine everything feels faster in a Corsa