[BITList] Traffic fines in France

[franka]

  *Only in France unfortunately*


  *frank *


  How to Avoid Paying Traffic Fines in France

Friday 01 June 2012

A French couple have been able to get away without paying EUR23,000 in 
traffic fines on a legal technicality, writes Johnny Summerton.

It's one of those absurd but true stories which both defies belief and 
illustrates how a loophole in the law, even in a country such as France 
which seems to have so many of them, can be exploited to its full potential.

As reported in the regional daily Nice Matin, a couple in the French 
city of Cannes have managed to rack up fines for traffic offences 
amounting to the grand total of just over EUR23,000.

The infractions date back to July 2010 and so far there have been 70 of 
them - for speeding, illegal parking, not paying at motorway toll 
booths...and the list goes on.

Oh yes, and as well as the fines there have also been points deducted 
for those speeding offences.

But the charges against the couple have been dropped - even though it's 
clear they must be the ones committing the offences.

And it's all because of that loophole in the law which has allowed them 
to register the car they use in the name of their son.

He is, according to the carte grise or the car registration papers, the 
legal owner of the car - a Fiat Punto - and as such considered by law to 
be the driver - unless proven otherwise.

So why not charge him, you might be asking?

Well he's only four years old and obviously is too young to be held 
accountable.

And as his parents refused to attend a court hearing, the judge had no 
option but to drop the charges.

"It's clearly absurd but that's the way the law operates," the judge 
said in dismissing the case.

"Because the parents didn't attend the hearing, the only thing I can do 
it drop the charges. It isn't sufficient to assume that they were trying 
to get away with not paying fines, it also has to be proven that they 
were the ones actually driving'', he concluded.

The law allowing parents to register vehicles in the name of their 
children was apparently introduced in 1984 and was supposed to allow 16 
and 17-year-old learner drivers to have a car.

This posting has been supplied courtesy of www.survivefrance.com 
<http://www.survivefrance.com> where you can follow how this debate 
went, and contribute to it, at How to Avoid Driving Fines in France - 
its legal 
<http://www.survivefrance.com/profiles/blogs/how-to-avoid-paying-traffic-fines-in-france-and-its-legal>.

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