Free Traffic Legal Advice

Received a large fine from France for going 2km/hr over the 50km/hr speed limit. I feel they're being pedantic and expecting 300 euros for that is absurd. Also probably probably only chasing it because i'm English.

I should mention that i'm currently resident in Portugal and i know laws have changed to make it easier for EU countries to chase across borders, but i'm not feeling inclined to pay 300km for what most countries would consider within the bounds of a measurement error.

Looks like it comes directly from the Government Department, Direction Generale des Finances Publiques.

What are my options?

I asked ChatGPT as it's pretty good at French and it said this:

Confirm the recorded speed. In France, there’s a technical deduction for speed camera readings. If the measured speed was 52 km/h, they should have deducted 5%, making it 49 km/h, meaning no fine.

So my current plan is to appeal (in Portuguese as i don't see any expectation on me to be able to speak French), quoting that law, and ask them to confirm the speed they recorded me at.. and then basically use appeals to make it time consuming for them to try and enforce for 2km/hr.

Does that sound like the right approach to anyone with more experience here? or maybe making contact is a bad idea as once they get a sniff they'll chase it harder.

I asked ChatGPT

I know nothing about French law, but I would beware the perils of using ChatGPT for legal advice:

I once asked ChatGPT how many time the letter 'r' appears in the word 'strawberry'. This was its response:



I'm not sure I would rely on it for competent legal advice.

@BertB

> Was it definitely 52/50 and not 52/30?

Yes, definitely. The letter says 'going less than 5km/hr over speed limit' (in french).

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.

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..

You can simply ignore providing you're not planning on visiting France for a while. Meanwhile can you change the number plates, something that the Germans and Belgians do frequently.