deadbeat

[quote user="Tony F Dordogne"] Their accident rate is actually very low, I think most people appreciate them for what they are and give them a wide berth. Not like the kids on the hairdryers who seem to be getting killed and injured all over 24 at the moment!!! [/quote] Thanks, your info was very useful.  As for the accident rate...  I suspect that eventhough they are not in the accidents they get to see many!! Cheers

[quote user="cooperlola"]No, as JR says above, you do not need a license to drive one (afaik).  However, you do need to have your head examined.[/quote] Why do I need to have my head examined?  I am sorry if I have caused any offence, I was just trying to be funny. ACT

Thanks JR I really am amazed that this is so.  I really did not know they were called that..  That is one part of my question.  The next part, simply is this...  Can being drunk in one lead to a ban from using one's  normal car (as is so in the UK)?  I know that with that converse the presumption is to the negative but I suspect many mistakenly believe that they can be drunk in charge of one and not suffer any penalty.  This is quite different to being drunk in a normal car, getting ban and then driving sober in a 'voiture sans permit', which from what the second reply states does seem to be the case here. Ta

Hello, Bear in mind that my comments concern UK and not France.  I would be interested to hear about the French situation, I think the UK situation is as I have described below.  If I am wrong please feel free to correct me.  Mostly I would like to know are these things motor cars or not in the UK and or in France?  I would also love to hear from anyone who has one and has had an accident in one or seen an accident involving one.  I am sure they must cause many accidents.  Thank God birds tend not to drive them or there would be carrnage..[8-)] I have seen very small cars on the French roads, I am not sure what they are called but I guess most readers will know what I mean. I have been trying to get some information about these cars and have come across some very strange ideas about them.  Maybe you people in here can help, you seem a clever bunch.  These cars travel very slowly and are very small and often have an old person at the helm. This person, without exception, wears a hat, is in excess of 112 years of age and has a Gauloises hanging from the side of his mouth..  Sorry bowt the stereotyping but I figure if you have seen one you will know what I mean.  I presume they also are very fuel efficient. Not the little old men... the cars. Does anyone have a technical spec or some information on these? Just the engine size, fuel type, weight etc, and are these 'cars' road legal in the UK? I hardly expect them to be allowed on motorways for example but maybe they are allowed on littlerer roads.. and stuff...like.   Are they even classified as ‘motor vehicles’ or are they MPVs? I have listened on a 'bloke in the pub' saying that; " if one were to lose one's driving licence for the excessive imbibition of fermented fruit one may continue to drive in of these amusing little things"... (He was better spoken than what I am, an old soldier, spoke proper and all that).  I am presuming he was talking out his ar+se... not to put too fine a point on it... Certainly his breath was so foul as he might as well have been.  Could perhaps his confusion (and now my own) be derived from the fact that whilst one may be committing an offence by driving any motorised vehicle over the prescribed limit for alcohol (even when the vehicle in question does not require one to be licensed, such as an MPV) one may ONLY be banned from driving 'motor vehicles' requiring a driving licence.  The reason? Well a ‘driving ban’ is not actually a ban.  It is the temporary withdrawal of the right to drive a vehicle, a right wich is the first place was granted by the state, so it is definitely the witdrawal of a privilage... As one does not require a licence to drive an MPV wich is not a 'motor vehicle' (providing it is driven in accordance with the Law) one may not be banned from doing so.  The question is of course: 'Is this "amusing" little car a motor vehicle, the driving of which requires a licence'? By the way, I am aware that one may be stopped from doing pretty much anything, including riding a bike but I am sticking to the drink driving rules.... if that are OK with the Pedants. Where was I..? So we say a person drunk in charge of an MPV which is not also a 'motor vehicle' on the public highway may well get a full driving ban in the UK.  Is this also so in France?  We also can say that to be caught drunk in charge of a normal motor vehicle on the highway in the UK will lead to a ban from driving all vehicles requiring a licence (motor vehicles) and not all MPVs. Is this so in France? If, as I have been told but seriously doubt, it is legal to drive this little car without a licence of any kind then certainly if anyone has lost their driving licence to drive a real car they may drive one of these things.  I guess... Probably...   They may not however drive one drunk in the belief that they will not lose their licence if caught.   I think...  I supppose I could have just asked:  Are these vehicles ‘motorised vehicles’ as defined in the Road Traffic Act 1988. All Road vehicles are MPVs but some MPVs are not motor vehicles.  Some, such as ride-on-mowers are specifically excluded as being so by Section 189 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.  This act and section 140 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 also provide that electrically assisted pedal cycles (which of course are MPVs) of such class as may be prescribed by regulations are not to be treated as motor vehicles for the purposes of those Acts. In spite of these specific exclusions people have still been banned from driving due to having been drunk in charge of both Wheel chairs and ride-on-mowers (presumably not at the same time).  Bear in mind, these things as specifically excluded as not being ‘motor vehicles’ by Section 189 RTA.  For all other MPVs which are not defined as motor vehicles and not specifically excluded there seems little hope of escaping. MPV by the way stands for Motor Propelled Vehicle. Your comments woudl be welcome, I know you people know about this stuff and other stuff more cleverer than that un all. Armchairterrorist.

[quote user="NormanH"][quote user="deadbeat"]Hello,  this is my first message here. we want to teach him at home, partly for his educational needs and mostly for his cultural and social needs...  [/quote] I can appreciate that you might wish to educate him at home for academic reasons, but not for cultural or social ones. Interreaction with other children is essential for social development, and if he is to develop a fluent French also. You don't say which region you live in but it sounds a bit like Brittany. [/quote] Dordogne. He has lots of French Friends (all in fact) whom he sees most days after school and on weekends.  I think he will be fine

[quote user="Boiling a frog"]The teacher was correct about one thing at least    France is GMT plus 2 hours at the moment. GMT is 1021 am UK time is plus one hour ie 1121hrs and France is GMT plus 2 hours ie 1221 hrs     [/quote] My apologies I mean to say BST + 2.  Many people may have inferred that from the text.  Forgive me for the error and thanks for pointing it out... Sir.

Hello,  this is my first message here. My son is 14 and has been to French school in France for the last 6 years.  We are not very happy with the standard of schools here in our area and his education is suffering.  He is also very upset at the everyday barrage of anti  British sentiment aimed at them by the teachers.  All little things but all are coming from some place nasty.  One must wonder what it is that these people (French Teachers not French People) fear... Only last week he was told, whilst studying the UK in geography, that the British are Xenophobic, that they manufacture nothing, that they refuse to turn back the clocks in winter and forward in Spring...!!    (Even being told that at the moment Paris is GMT +2 hours!!!)...  He was refused entry onto a school trip because he had no French ID card (although he did have a British passport).  He was also incorrectly told that the British hate the EU.  In fact it was the French who stopped the UK joining the EEC in 1960 and kept them out for another 13 years.  The teacher spent 2 classes going on about how the British are the only country in the world who drive on the left (In fact there are 74, one is India with a population on 1 Billion).  He also claimed that we use yards and pounds when in fact t is illegal in the UK to sell anything in pounds.  I could go on but I don't want to sound like I hate the French.. I do not..  I guess it is teachers... They are the same the world over...  They live amongst children and want to be men.... I am not being anti French, I love the French... but it has to be said that there is no hope for the French ever to understand the Brits if this is the filth taught in schools. Anyway, we don’t think any kind of Nationalism is good for a young mind so now want to teach him at home, partly for his educational needs and mostly for his cultural and social needs...  I presume there is some sort of process that must be undergone to do this. If anyone has experience of this I would be glad to hear from you.  We hope to teach our son ourselves and not use home tutors.  We are not qualified teachers but are degree educated (I have a degree in Civil Engineering and an LLB and my wife has one in Psychology)..  As I say... not qualified teachers but we very much fear the lobotomy required in Teacher training school. Kinda strayed from the point there.  Brendan