Speeding Fine

[Nymphomanic]

My Mother has got a 200 euro speeding fine because the authorities say she was caught on camera in Grenoble breaking the speed limit at the end of May. Not only has my Mother, who is a careful driver, never been to Grenoble but on the date the offence was supposedly committed she was in the UK as was her car. She wrote and told the authorities this and thought it was the end of the matter, however since then they have called her and said there is no way she can prove she wasn't speeding in Grenoble that day and if she doesn't pay the fine they will take 'drastic action'.

My parents are really broke and a 200 euro fine will really cripple them financially. My Mother is also very emotionally vulnerable and has suffered from anxiety disorders for a long time, she feels she has to pay the fine as she is so frightened by it, but I feel that it is unjust and they are taking advantage of a vulnerable woman just picked at random. Any advice short of me paying the fine for them?

[hr]

I read most of the night and go south in winter - wasteland

[James01]

Ask to see proof of the offense. They are obliged to provide you with evidence that they caught you speeding.

Most likely someone is running a car with false plates. Your mother seems to be the unfortunate victim of a form of identity fraud. Simply asking the Grenoble authority for a picture taken at the time of the offensive (if taken from a camera) or the police officer's written description of the car should prove her innocence.

[James01]

This is from safermotoring.co.uk:

"If you are unlucky enough to get a ticket or a demand for something you didn't do, or somewhere you haven't been, challenge it, and report it to the authorities/police. Keep a diary of where you were on days and times in case it happens again. Make a fuss and don't back down if you know you are innocent."

[James01]

Another quote from a diffrent forum:

"I have experienced this before personally and the way I handled it was I had colleagues write statements to confirm the whereabouts of me and my car at the time and date of the alledged incident, and sent it recorded to the offices concerned. I stated that unless they had photographic evidence that the statements would laugh the case out of court. I received a letter within 7 days saying the fine had been binned.

There is cloning rife at the moment and also human error can enter into these things"

[munchingfoo]

Of course, we'd probably need an expert in French law, not British, in this case.

Is your mother a British or French citizen? If british you could speak to the British embassy.

The general embassy in France is at -

British Embassy, BP111-08, 75363 Paris CEDEX 08

tel:(331) 44 51 31 00

If you want to visit in person in france there are a number of embassy all over that you can find here http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-the-fco/ ... urope/?l=F

[hr]

"The entirety of these definitions lie outside the gamut of the sRGB color space — such a pure color cannot be represented using RGB primaries. The color swatch to the right is a desaturated approximation, created by taking the centroid of the standard definition and moving it towards the D65 white point, until it meets the sRGB gamut triangle."

[Gubbins]

My father also got a speeding fine after someone gave his name and address in the south of Scotland. Fortunately for him, he now lives in Portugal. He wrote a letter back saying that he lives in Portugal, it could not have been him, and requested evidence of the crime committed. He received a letter saying that the fine had been dropped.

Chances are some your parents know has done likewise and given a false name and address when abroad. James01's suggestion of requests for the information from the Grenoble police is a sensible first step: if the car registration is a foreign car, it's likely a hire car that the French authorities can trace if they wish to persue the fine; if it is a UK-registered car, report the case to your local bobby and the DVLA should be able to tell the Frenchies who it really was.

If this fails, go with alibi witness statements. As a country not entirely within the Schengen Agreement, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office likely has a record of any period when your parents left the UK, though how easy it is for you to get hold of is another matter! Reply to the Grenoble police, stressing again that someone was giving a false identity, providing original witness statements (keep a copy) and perhaps saying that you can neither afford the fine, nor any means of getting to Grenoble short of being deported.

You may also consider going to your local police force or Citizens' Advice Bureau anyway.

Best of luck getting it sorted.

[hr]

...then again, that is only my opinion.

[wiggle]

You could try calling this number to query the fine: 08.11.10.20.30 it seems to be the recommended number to call. There is a bit of information on this site about fines http://www.french-property.com/reference/driving_rules/ which may be worth looking at.

Quoting nymphomanic from 09:46, 28th Aug 2008
My Mother has got a 200 euro speeding fine because the authorities say she was caught on camera in Grenoble breaking the speed limit at the end of May. Not only has my Mother, who is a careful driver, never been to Grenoble but on the date the offence was supposedly committed she was in the UK as was her car. She wrote and told the authorities this and thought it was the end of the matter, however since then they have called her and said there is no way she can prove she wasn't speeding in Grenoble that day and if she doesn't pay the fine they will take 'drastic action'.

My parents are really broke and a 200 euro fine will really cripple them financially. My Mother is also very emotionally vulnerable and has suffered from anxiety disorders for a long time, she feels she has to pay the fine as she is so frightened by it, but I feel that it is unjust and they are taking advantage of a vulnerable woman just picked at random. Any advice short of me paying the fine for them?

[hr]

I read most of the night and go south in winter - wasteland

Quoting nymphomanic from 09:46, 28th Aug 2008
My Mother has got a 200 euro speeding fine because the authorities say she was caught on camera in Grenoble breaking the speed limit at the end of May. Not only has my Mother, who is a careful driver, never been to Grenoble but on the date the offence was supposedly committed she was in the UK as was her car. She wrote and told the authorities this and thought it was the end of the matter, however since then they have called her and said there is no way she can prove she wasn't speeding in Grenoble that day and if she doesn't pay the fine they will take 'drastic action'.

My parents are really broke and a 200 euro fine will really cripple them financially. My Mother is also very emotionally vulnerable and has suffered from anxiety disorders for a long time, she feels she has to pay the fine as she is so frightened by it, but I feel that it is unjust and they are taking advantage of a vulnerable woman just picked at random. Any advice short of me paying the fine for them?

[hr]

I read most of the night and go south in winter - wasteland

[Nymphomanic]

Thanks Guys

James01, thanks for your advice, the thing is my Mother does live in France for a lot of the time so am not sure if the same laws apply but as it's in the EU the legislation probably will be similar. Foo, she's a British citizen so your plan of contacting an embassy seems the best idea, as well as James' idea of asking for evidence. Proof that her car was in England at the time might work, but the thing is it's only going to be people we know saying 'yes she was in England at this time' as well as perhaps reciept for ferry journeys and they can say that that proves nothing.

Also wiggles thanks for the link and gubbins thanks for the advice. I will let you know how this works out.

[hr]

I read most of the night and go south in winter - wasteland