French car in the Uk. CT needed.

[Karen Torsk]

Help!

I'm in the Uk until March with my French car.Realised I need a Controle Teqnique at the end of January 2017 .

How long do I have to get a CT done. is there time allowance on getting it done.. I'm in Yorkshire so not so handy for a ferry over.

Any advise greatly appreciated.

[YCCMB]

I've been up to a month late getting a CT on my car when I've been unable to make a visit over to coincide with when its needed. Unlike the MOT, it seems that if you get it done late, they don't post date the validity to when it should have been done, either.

Dunno what might happen if you were to get stopped by the flics with an out of date CT though.....

[nomoss]

I suggest you book a CT near to whichever port you arrive in for the day you get back to France, which should satisfy any gendarme who happens to check your car.

Google "controle technique" plus the name of a town near where you arrive. Most if not all centres now have online booking available. Once you have booked you will get an email confirming your rdv.

[AnOther]

Driving without a current CT is a Minor Offence 4th Class for which the penalty is €135 but with no loss of points.

Having an appointment might save your bacon depending on the disposition of any flic who happened to pull you.

Perhaps of greater cause for concern though are the possible consequences in the UK should you get stopped there, or worse be involved in an accident and can't demonstrate that your car is being driven legally.

As unlikely as it is that the average UK plod would have any real idea of what the CT sticker actually represents the fact that it and the accompanying PV are out of date could or would give rise to awkward questions.

I presume of course that you are non UK resident and can prove it if called upon to do so ?

If not the CT issue could become the very least of your problems because you're then potentially looking both at vehicle seizure and prosecution for driving without insurance plus quite how you would go about recovering a foreign registered vehicle after seizure in that circumstance I don't know.

Since you cannot legalise it with a CT collection by trailer might be the only way and I don't know if that's even an option from a pound, ultimately it's at risk of being destroyed !

A further though admittedly more extreme risk is that plod, or a PCSO, or maybe even a traffic warden does spot and recognise an expired CT sticker for what it is which could give them grounds to lift the car in your absence.

I may be painting worst case scenarios and with luck you'll just get

through the next couple of months unscathed, I hope you do, however that doesn't alter the

fact that risks I've outlined do exist and that you run them each and

every time you drive the car.

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]I've been up to a month late getting

a CT on my car when I've been unable to make a visit over to coincide

with when its needed[/quote]That makes it sound like you're keeping the car in UK and just making odd visits to France with it, is that right ?

If so my comment re proving non UK residency if called upon applies to you to.

[Gardengirl]

Would it be possible to get an MOT done in Yorkshire or is that a big no-no?

Personally I would drive (very carefully) back to France for a CT at Calais, with fingers metaphorically crossed that there wasn't an accident.

In Betty's case, I took it that she keeps a car in France for use when she visits. Keeping a foreign-registered car in the UK by a UK citizen is illegal.

[andyh4]

GG

the lights are not right for the UK so it would be an automatic MOT fail. Changing the lights and the having to change back? Cheaper to book a day return through the Tunnel and get a CT in Calais.

[alittlebitfrench]

Can I just pop in here and ask a stupid question.

If you are going on holiday in the UK with a LHD, do you have to put those 'sticky thingy things' on your headlights like you do with a RHD going to Europe so you don't blind people ?

[mint]

Yes, I'd like an answer to ALBF's question as well.

Not that I plan any trip back to the UK any time soon, but hell, if they kick me out of France after Brexit, it might be inevitable.........don't all go railing against me, I'm only joking (or at least I hope it is no more than joking?[:-))])

[idun]

In all those years we too'd and fro'd we only once put some of those stickers on our french car in the UK. And someone rearranged them one evening when we had put them on, so we took them off.

We never got flashed by other drivers, so considered all was well.

We have been flashed for other things, ie french car in France, and UK car in the UK, for quite different things.

I do miss yellow headlamps. Got some yellow lense over glasses and used them recently when I had a long drive and it was foggy, boy did they help and my eyes were not so tired.

ps, I believe that Betty means that her french car in France may run out of CT in her absence.

[alittlebitfrench]

Following on from Idun's post, have you noticed how British drivers are so disrespectful to you when driving a French reg car in the UK.

It never used to be like that. I got cut up, honked at, flashed at, probably spat at many times in just three days at xmas. Never experienced that before. What is going on ?

Is this a Brexit thing ????

[mint]

Has it occurred to you that it might be your driving, ALBF?[:D][:P][I]

[Gardian]

[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]Following on from Idun's post, have you noticed how British drivers are so disrespectful to you when driving a French reg car in the UK.

It never used to be like that. I got cut up, honked at, flashed at, probably spat at many times in just three days at xmas. Never experienced that before. What is going on ?

Is this a Brexit thing ????[/quote]

Quite frankly, I have found that the complete opposite is true.

Generally speaking, I feel that I'm given a 'wide berth' when over in the UK.

As for being spat at ......... !!!!!!??????

[YCCMB]

[quote user="AnOther"]Driving without a current CT is a Minor Offence 4th Class for which the penalty is €135 but with no loss of points.

Having an appointment might save your bacon depending on the disposition of any flic who happened to pull you.

Perhaps of greater cause for concern though are the possible consequences in the UK should you get stopped there, or worse be involved in an accident and can't demonstrate that your car is being driven legally.

As unlikely as it is that the average UK plod would have any real idea of what the CT sticker actually represents the fact that it and the accompanying PV are out of date could or would give rise to awkward questions.

I presume of course that you are non UK resident and can prove it if called upon to do so ?

If not the CT issue could become the very least of your problems because you're then potentially looking both at vehicle seizure and prosecution for driving without insurance plus quite how you would go about recovering a foreign registered vehicle after seizure in that circumstance I don't know.

Since you cannot legalise it with a CT collection by trailer might be the only way and I don't know if that's even an option from a pound, ultimately it's at risk of being destroyed !

A further though admittedly more extreme risk is that plod, or a PCSO, or maybe even a traffic warden does spot and recognise an expired CT sticker for what it is which could give them grounds to lift the car in your absence.

I may be painting worst case scenarios and with luck you'll just get

through the next couple of months unscathed, I hope you do, however that doesn't alter the

fact that risks I've outlined do exist and that you run them each and

every time you drive the car.

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]I've been up to a month late getting

a CT on my car when I've been unable to make a visit over to coincide

with when its needed[/quote]That makes it sound like you're keeping the car in UK and just making odd visits to France with it, is that right ?

If so my comment re proving non UK residency if called upon applies to you to.

[/quote]

Quite the opposite. I live in the UK. I have a French-registered car at my French house.

[marmite]

Or they are forum members.

[AnOther]

[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]Following on from Idun's post, have you noticed how British drivers are so disrespectful to you when driving a French reg car in the UK.

It never used to be like that. I got cut up, honked at, flashed at, probably spat at many times in just three days at xmas. Never experienced that before. What is going on ?

Is this a Brexit thing ????[/quote]No, sounds like you maybe need visit less cheesy areas when in UK [Www]

[alittlebitfrench]

I would not say Havant was chessy...which is where we were when we were subjected to some abuse by some old codger. Given their age however, it is quite possible they are forum member. LOL. Can't be Leven, they weren't driving a beat up Alfa.

But I stand by my point, I am not saying French reg car in particular, I am saying a foreign reg car. I have felt a bit of tension going on over the last couple of years when driving about in the UK. Like I said, it never used to be like that. It could well be a Brexit thing.

[Gardian]

Complete and utter rowlocks.

[idun]

LOL ALBF, no never noticed anything in particular when we used to to and fro with our french car.

As I said, earlier this year, it was on our way to the Alpes,that our UK reg car was dented in an Aire car park on the autoroute, only been in France for 6 hours. A day later it was hit again near my son's house, and then we were bumped from behind and my OH said that we had another bump too, think I was beyond caring by then.

When I first moved to France, on a trip down with stuff from England, in our UK car, it was broken into twice. And then I took said car back and sold it! We then bought our very first brand new car, within weeks, it was hit whilst parked in the street, and we got that repaired and then it was hit outside our appt.

Believe me, never feels like anything good to have, but really what is the point of getting upset. If you don't like the 'look' of being bashed, then get it fixed, c'est tout.

And I know some posters prefer driving in France, but where I lived and my son and friends still do, there is a lot of traffic, much more than when we lived there and jams, all the time, although we did used to get them. And for all the french have stopped driving at break neck speed, they still have not stopped tailgating and over taking when they should not.

Personally I prefer driving in the UK and in the last year, as well as France and Belgium, I have driven to south Wales, to the Midlands, and to Southampton, and all over the North, there are idiots about, because in any country there are some,but I certainly prefer driving here. In a french or UK reg car.

[AnOther]

We were in UK (Essex and Suffolk) in September and November (both sides of a trip to OZ) and noticed nothing out of the ordinary.

The difference could be that my car is replete with French battle scars worn with pride and maybe that earns it a measure of respect [Www]

[alittlebitfrench]

@ Idun

Our first car we bought in France (brand new) got rear ended in Paris by a women on a mobile phone. It was totally crunched at the back. The women driver unbelievably tried to get the scratches out with her French version of T cut. This was in the dark, blocking a main artery into the centre with fuming Parisians honking their hearts out.

Surreal.

Anyway, it was welded back together by a caroserie with no experience in welding - all paid by her insurance. Sure enough it fell apart some years later.

Vivre la France