But why is there a need to speak to the insurance? I have motor insurance certificate at hand and I did show it to the office and also I have used the same certificate to collect my vehicle from police compound yard.

Were the plates changed to the correct format for the collection?

My granddaughter recently visited Bristol.  Being aware of the LEZ she went onto .gov.uk clean air web page to check her vehicle's status.  She received a reply showing her vehicle's detail were correct and a message

There is a problem with your vehicle.  This number plate may have been used on another vehicle.

I've done another check today but that message doesn't show up.

My thoughts are that as it's a 'personal' plate in a  LN LLL layout perhaps it's a reference to a previous user of that registration (if there was one) but she has had it for seven years without problems.

Hi

This is not correct any more at Stansted, the barriers have been removed for express drop off and pick up. Perhaps since the start of this year

Quote from: baroudeur on April 08, 2025, 12:02:37 pm

All Stansted parking is barrier controlled.

It seems that the op has his vehicle registered to an account with Stansted Airport parking which allows entry/exit to the car parks and payment to be made later via his account.  On this occasion he hasn't paid in time.

As a regular visitor to the airport it may have been wiser to have set up the account with auto-pay.

Edit: to clarify

Thank you for that update.  It went barrierless on 23rd January and is now pay online.

Rather fortunately, as a regular visitor I have already opened an account with Stanstead (and Luton) although I wasn't aware that it had gone barrierless since my last visit in December. My next trip should have been last week but another relative made the drop off

Quote from: ojnab on April 02, 2025, 07:46:13 am

Thanks I'll see if I can find anything that I can understand on TCS's and ADAC's websites (at least TCS will have French)

So I found this by asking on expat FB group
German traffic fine calculator

It says that the fine is only going to be about EUR 150-180 and possibly banned from driving within Germany for a month.

There is a time limit for payment/reply which you seem to have exceeded if you haven't paid or replied yet.

Before Brexit, the EU Cross-Border Enforcement Directive (2015/413/EU) allowed mutual recognition of traffic fines across EU countries. Since Brexit, the UK is no longer bound by this directive, meaning foreign motoring fines or toll penalties are not automatically enforceable in the UK.

The Cross Border Agreement was limited to eight specific offences allowing foreign authorities to obtain 'owner' details.....

    Speeding;
    Not using a seatbelt
    Not stopping at a red traffic light or other mandatory stop signal
    Drink driving
    Driving under the influence of drugs
    Not wearing a safety helmet (for motorcyclists);
    Using a forbidden lane (such as the forbidden use of an emergency lane, a lane reserved for public transport, or a lane closed
    Illegally using a mobile phone, or any other communications device, while driving.

The EU is currently considering added further offences.

Since Brexit the CBA no longer applies to the UK.

And we, being f*cking idiots, have been telling posters that courts can't sentence drivers to a course.

Where, in the link, is there a reference to a Court imposing the course?   

I decided to appeal the fine as Under European Union regulations, particularly the EU Cross-Border Enforcement Directive, authorities are generally required to send notifications of traffic fines in a language that the recipient can reasonably understand, which should ideally be the language of the country where the vehicle is registered (in this case, Portuguese).

I don't think there's a legally enforceable reason for them to assume that i can understand the contents of a letter sent to me in French, which i can't just that it's some sort of fine, and that would make the enforcement of the letter dubious.

I'm going to send an appeal telling them that i can't understand their letter and suggesting they communicate in Portuguese, or through the Portuguese authorities. Also letting them know that i'm mostly living in a camper van and rarely at the address they are communicating with and so am unlikely to be able to meet the deadlines they appear to be imposing, to try and get some leeway regarding the extra fines.

Just before brexit France was sending Avis de Contravention (penalty notice) in English to UK vehicle keepers. This suggests that they should issue the penalty notice in Portuguese for a car registered in Portugal. Do you speak Portuguese?

If this is the second notice what happened to the first one?

The ONLY way to appeal an Avis de Contravention is to follow the instructions on it which are easily translated which, basically, means that you have to submit your challenge and include the penalty for it to be considered.

If you are not likely to return to France you can ignore any reminders.

Edit 2: Edit 1 deleted as information is not up to date. Follow any instruction on the notice regarding contesting the penalty.  I haven't seen a copy of that so I'm working blind until I can download one..

I think @maks might find it very helpful if one of the forum members (all of whom are more knowledgeable than me) posted one of those useful links that actually explains the procedure step by step from receiving a PCN to the end.  I'd do it myself if I knew what I was doing regarding PCNs but I don't know what I'm doing.

The OP's first language obviously isn't English and he clearly hasn't a clue as to how all this works.  (He reminds me of Captain Haddock ranting in a TinTin cartoon soemtimes)

The  English grammar and punctuation isn't that bad and doesn't suggest it's written by someone whose mother tongue isn't English.