friend of stouby

Your German / French work / live would work easily with a German registered car as you had no fixed border controls, but if you tried that from UK / France with heavily scrutinised border crossings you may have come unstuck. Pleased that it worked for you though, my original question was to enable us to simplify our lives a little but obviously not at the moment in this instance.

[quote user="Araucaria"]I hope the OP realizes that although he (she?) can't drive their French-registered car in the UK, someone else who is a French resident can do so perfectly legally. So if the OP really has to make a quick trip back to the UK in his French car, he should find a French-resident (maybe a uk expat?) to act as chauffeur. It shouldn't be that hard. [/quote] Another driver did occur but probably too much bother to involve another person. For the moment we'll just accept that we will be mildly inconvenienced and if the situation arises get around it in the best manner possible until maybe the UK can come into line regarding 'holiday cars'... but of course with a referendum due in the distant future it's hard to imagine the UK creating closer ties for now, but that's a different can of worms. Thanks

I do like the idea of a free Europe but only if a more realistic and practical political class appear. idun of course you are correct, it is a decision to stay within the law or not. Quite a few French people I have met In France suggest that laws are there only as advice, and sometimes laws are wrong and are ok to be ignored. Unfortunately I have a British view that laws are not to be broken however stupid they are, so we made the decision to make alternative arrangements that don't involve taking a French registered vehicle to the UK with us driving it, but not half as convenient as if we could take our own holiday car ourselves. Yes I will pursue this with an MEP but that will only happen slowly due to time restraints while we are both working. andyh4, quite curious how you got around your multi country problem... Thanks for your opinions

Thanks again This subject is quite messy as the ruling isn't particularly logical or helpful. We are back and forth maybe 6 times each year, used to be more often. We have a small UK business which requires us to be in the UK whether we want to be or not and as a matter of course our UK vehicles are MoT'd and taxed in the UK, so not a big deal to take a car that spends an amount of time in France back to the UK. I appreciate that most folk don't travel to and fro so frequently therefore have to make a choice of a UK or French registered car. Our French car is 99% for use in France so it's logical to have a French registered car, but the convenience of being able to use it say for one short trip per year to the UK is obviously not possible, but as someone wrote, how stupid is that. 3 weeks ago we made a short visit to Italy, last week we made a short visit to Germany and Poland all in our French car. It is a nonsense that we are fully entitled to drive our French car in these 'other' countries but not the country we were born in and spend most time. Our French car is insured via a large assurance agency who part specialise in insuring ex pats and holiday home owners, very efficient they are too. They are very aware we do not live in France full time and insure on that basis with one of the worlds larger insurance companies. One of our friends who has discussed residence with many insists we are all residents of the EU and not a particular country, but we are affiliated to a particular country due to where we spend the most time and more important (to the authorities) where we pay our taxes. We'll have to give this some thought as each situation (car ownership and registration) has it's pluses and minuses, I guess each individual will come to their own compromise. Thank you again for your help

That is a very interesting piece of information AnOther and I thank you for that. It's possible to take from this that the DVLA are fairly ambivalent about the subject providing it is short term and the criteria are met. I do think that with the UK's intense amount of vehicle recognition surveillance camera cover they could easily flag up if a foreign registered car remains in the UK longer than is allowed, finding out who owns it may be a different matter though. Thank you again, that is very informative piece of information straight from the horses mouth.

We are still UK residents and do have a real address in the UK too. We are splitting our time between the UK, travel excluding France and France at our home there. We do have vehicles registered in the UK and in France and have never ever intimated that we are French residents. Did get stopped in a roadside spot check about 3 weeks ago near to Istres. The police checked all documents including my license, passport, what our address in France was and where we were resident and then waved us on with no comment except to say we had 4 week until the CT was due. So to get this right it's... by owning a French registered car I am forbidden to drive it in the UK as I am resident in the UK even though the insurers don't mind the car being driven in the UK. Is there a purpose to this ruling other than making life awkward? In effect it's better that we should sell our French car, buy a LHD UK car and insure it in the UK then we can bring it in and out, leave it in France for up to 3 or 6 months? (not sure on that ruling) and then return it to the UK. We were also thinking of buying a motorhome to register in France for mainly continental European usage but would also perhaps like to take it back to the UK on occasion, so this may need a re-think? Thanks to all for your input, can anyone give me a link to a DVLA section that deals with this subject please.

Something in the back of my mind about a UK citizen can drive their own French registered car anywhere (that their French insurance allow) except for the UK, have I got this right? This isn't connected to French insurance as that is EU wide, rather it's about the UK not allowing their own citizens to drive a 'foreign' registered car while in the UK. The same law would apply to all EU countries and their own citizens in this case. We want to make a flying visit to the UK while we are spending a few months in France. The best vehicle for us to use is our French registered car rather than the large van we drive to France with. Any ideas and thanks

Why not just fit one, any filter to remove debris is going to prolong the sand filter bed life and surely that is a good idea?

Didn't intend to cause confusion and didn't want to appear to advertise the caravan here either... We have a small 1 bedroomed cottage and expected certain visitors (as in for a holiday) a few times each year, but their health deteriorated before they could use the caravan. We have friends scattered around the globe who all live by the rule of if you visit anyone only stay 3 days max. So over the last 5 years we have had visitors, some wouldn't use any caravan and stayed at the local country auberge, some brought their own motorhomes along, and some used our caravan. We have replaced the caravan with a motorhome for our own use, Tour de France, Le Mans etc etc, and guests can use this if required. Although I can understand the confusion it's probably due to lack of any other qualifying information as didn't want it to appear as a sales pitch. My use of the word accomodation was used correctly though as it accomodates friends on occassion, but apart from it being located in one place it isn't used apart from a few days each year. Sorry to have caused any problems.        

[quote user="Bugsy"]Just put 'caravane anglaise' in a search under caravanning. Lots on there. .[/quote] Thanks Bugsy, that's perfect " Would I be right in assuming that the caravan has a carte gris " No it doesn't have britgirl, a UK caravan brought to our house in France and stored here ever since.

[quote user="Bugsy"]Caravans for Sale. Leboncoin. .[/quote] Thanks Bugsy, yes I thought of that but with it being a UK caravan didn't think that the French would be too interested ?

  Hello We wish to sell an older caravan we have used for accomodation at our French home in the Allier, where would be the best place to advertise this please?      

We had a recent mandatory inspection from SIVOM to check out the existing ancient fosse system and were offered two options. Either repair/update the existing system to a specification advised by the inspector or to fit a new system. We were considering a new system before we were made aware of the inspection visit so chose to go the route of new and told the inspector so. A few days later he wrote with a specification of the type of system that he considered suitable for our soil/location/and future plans. We asked for clarification of a couple of minor points then with all the printed and verbal info looked for 3 devis (which took a whole lot longer than the system inspection and design). On speaking with each company after receiving their devis we chose one and then confirmed this with the inspector. At the end of October we should have a new fosse system installed... Re the soil testing. Our inspector told us what type of soil we had and that there was no need for a soil test. It came across that he worked and knew the area well enough that testing wasn't required. Apart from not having experienced any of these procedures before and having to ask extra questions, we found the whole process fairly relaxed with the contractors and inspector working hard to explain the requirements whist also taking our wishes into account. We received three devis two of which were ' approximatif ' . We spoke to each of the two companies to explain that we wouldn't accept an approximate quote, only a fixed price, at which point one company dropped out. We were under the misapprehension that a devis was always for a fixed job at a fixed amount but not apparently round here. The only plans that we have seen are the basic drawings issued by SIVOM for the 4 types of fosse systems that they allow, these came with our paperwork pack. It may be an idea for you to go directly to SIVOM to ask for an inspection, this may cut out some red tape? Good luck

BM They haven't quoted to run pipe from the new meter to inside of the house. The words were " you will have a continuous supply except for the moment we are conecting the new tap and external meter. To lay a new deeper pipe from the new meter to inside the house you will have to hire you own plumber " . So digging a trench wont lower the cost of installing a new meter and manhole, they will only be breaking into the existing water main not replacing it. GP Not sure if we have an external stop coque (great phrase). 3 m upstream of the meter/house is a circular manhole with a concrete lid. In the centre of the lid is a mini cast iron manhole lid which lifts out. The diameter of this (about 80mm?) is the same as a tube which appears to run down to the water main, but it is so narrow that it's difficult to tell if a tap is there or not. For some strange reason my torches wont give a good light right on the base so will rig up something powerful to light the tube to the bottom (is that allowed?). So at the moment we may or may not be fortunate? Thanks everybody for your input.

Not sure if we are allowed to move/replace the pipe on the incoming side of the meter, but if that's allowed it's a good solution, thanks.