UKC

Anyone been fined for not carrying one?

AA website is very misleading.

As I understand it, having introduced the legal requirement to carry them in the vehicle the French Govt then ditched this requirement in Jan 2013.

What is the current situation?

In reply to woolsack:

My understanding is

It is a legal requirement to carry one

There is no power to enforce this requirement

Go figure

For the sake of a few quid I have one in the car when I go abroad

In reply to woolsack:

We live in France. We've not heard of anyone being fined or having any sort of problem for not having them in the car - or of anyone actually being checked for whether they have the breathalysers!

I have been stopped as part of the random checks of anyone driving into our local village. I was breath tested but not asked whether I had a breathalyser in my car. Not surprising since the cops had a top bit of kit that you just blow at, rather than into, to make the necessary check and there is no penalty for not having one in your car anyway.

http://www.stopoverconnections.com/blog/2014/07/tips-for-driving-in-france/

"You may have heard conflicting information about the need to carry alcohol breathalysers in the car when driving in France. The situation is that they are a mandatory item but there is no penalty if you don’t have them in the car – work that one out!"


Wonder how much money Sarkozy's mate (breathalyser manufacturer) made from it

In reply to interdit:


Cheers, that explains it nicely. Halford's busily trying to shed the last remaining stocks onto unsuspecting Britishers

In reply to woolsack:

Le Basteurds!! I bought some new ones this year for the Alpine trip.

Any truth in the suggestion that fluorescent jackets have to be at arms length whilst driving so you can immediately exit the car with them on?
My mate said the French police had fined people for having the jackets on the back parcel shelf.

In reply to sbc_10:

I reckon common sense says you need to be out of the car with one on at night. I can see the point on these

In reply to sbc_10:




I believe if you exit the vehicle wearing the jacket then it is 'accessible'.

I've been stopped by the Police National and the Gendarmes, both for random checks and because once I was once over the speed limit.
Never been checked for hi-viz jackets (which I failed to put on both times), breathalysers, bulb kits, fire extinguishers, triangles or anything else.

What I would say is that we make sure we carry all of those items (except breathalysers) in all our vehicles.
It makes sense to, not because it's the law, they are just sensible things to have in the car.

If you have to walk down a hard shoulder (Bande d'arrêt d'urgence) then wearing a hi-viz my just mean you aren't run over.

In reply to woolsack:

The law's been dropped, you don't need one any more. The factory producing them is looking glum, but as it belongs to an MP who pushed the law in the first place no one feels much sympathy... couldn't happen anywhere else

In reply to Bruce Hooker:

LOL - I'd missed that part of the story! The fine was always very low (at least in the scheme of French on the spot fines - 10 or 15 Euros - so it did seem they were never too desperate to enforce it.

In reply to woolsack:
It's a racket pushed at the Uk end of the Tunnel. Typical French legislation not implemented owing to incompetence of supplying the required equipment. I spent a bomb at Eurotunnel buying the required material. But in France it was impossible to find what was required and the whole thing was dropped, though it is not clear what the legal requirement is. Another example of pushing through legislation without thinking of the requirements.

In reply to sbc_10:


They cost 1EUR each at the checkouts of DIY shops and places like that. Hardly a great imposition. I've never been checked specifically for mine, but was quite handy one New Year's day when I felt rough and wanted a bit of reassurance that I wasn't gong to be over the limit if pulled over. They're not meant to be a substitute for getting breatalysed by the police.



Again, never had that problem - I'm not sure how apocryphal some of these stories are. I normally keep mine under the driver's seat so I can get them by reaching round, but in one of ours cars I think they're still in the boot under the false bottom. I was stopped by the gendarmes for not stopping completely at a stop sign once and they didn't ask once about the jackets even though they weren't on display.

In reply to woolsack:

One of my French friends was quite surprised when we got some for a Font trip (despite my protestations) - apparently they were almost completely unavailable in France at the time due to shortages. This was before it was clear the entire thing was never going to come to fruition, and before/around the time they announced that the date for the introduction of fines had been indefinitely suspended (fines were never charged).

Continuing to sell them in Britain takes a certain level of dishonesty by being selective in the truth...

In reply to andrewmcleod:

Last time I went to France (last August) there were signs all over the ferry saying what was required by law to have in your car in France. This included the breathalysers. When I asked one of the staff in the shop if the law requiring them had been changed at that they were no longer needed, she said yes, no longer law in France. When I said that maybe they should stop claiming that it was still a legal requirement, and more to the point stop selling them under false pretenses, she got quite upset. Robbing b******s.