Exchanging driving licences - a tale of two chitties

[Maricopa]

I originally posted this as a follow up to a contribution I made in another thread, but then decided it may be worthy of a thread all of its own.  This is an absolutely true story.

We deposited our completed application forms to exchange our UK driving licences for French ones at the Sous-Prefecture at Béziers (S-P) on the 12 Oct 2007.  We were told they would take about a month. 

 

My wife received a letter from them on the 20 Dec 2007 saying she needed a medical (to keep her Cat E which she didn't want).

 

On the 21 Dec 2007 I received my convocation to collect my new licence ( I 'd had the medical as I wanted to keep the Cat E).

 

On the 2 Jan 2008 we went to the S-P and I successfully collected my exchange licence.  We told the fonctionaire that my wife didn't require the Cat E, so she suggested we handwrite a letter there and then to this effect (it doesn't say such a letter is necessary on the list of required documents).  We did so and she said it would be another (good) month.

 

On 8 April 2008 I telephoned the S-P to ask what the situation was, and they told me I must wait for the convocation.  They would tell me no more than this.

 

By the end of July (28), fed up with waiting, I visited our Mairie to see if the staff there could help.  The very helpful woman there photocopied all the relevant paperwork I had and faxed it through to the S-P, with a covering note, to see if that produced any response.  One week later (4 Aug 2008) I went back to the Mairie and she faxed again and phoned them whilst I was there.  At first they said they were still waiting for the medical report, then when told that we had already written a letter at the S-P stating my wife didn't require Cat E, decided it was all too difficult, the dossier was lost and we would have to start again (obviously a lie).

 

Since then we had been far to busy to return to the S-P to do it all again, and then out of the blue we received (5 Sep 2008) a convocation to collect the exchange driving licence.  We picked it up this Friday (12 Sep).

 

The remarkable ending to this is that after all the delay because they were waiting for my wife's medical for the Cat E which she didn't want, is that it has been endorsed for the next 5 years with that category!

 

C'est la vie.

 

M

 

 

[JMB]

Sounds as though you've not been having the best of times ... :-)

[Maricopa]

Au contraire, the last couple of years have been some of the best of our lives.......[:D]

[AnOther]

Is there something strange or odd in your tale, this is France [:D]

[Sunday Driver]

All services of the State in France are required to comply with the [url=http://www.fonction-publique.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/CharteMarianne_20050103.pdf]Charte Marianne[/URL] which guarantees specific service levels in terms of easy access to public services, a courteous and attentive welcome, an understandable reponse within a published timescale, etc.  They are also obliged to take account of user comments in order to improve services.

The service provided by Hérault préfecture in terms of your driving licence application clearly fell far short of that required under the Charte, therefore you are entitled to draw this to their attention.

The préfect is the responsible person, so you should write to him and complain.

 

 

[Maricopa]

That's very interesting SD.  Especially that the Charter Mark in the UK was one of the models that inspired the creation of the Charte Marianne.  I might well write a letter to the Préfect and see what transpires.

Thanks again[:D]

[Sunday Driver]

It's a marvellous thing to bash them over the head with.  The clever bit is - the Charte says they can't ignore your complaint......[;-)]

 

[AnOther]

It would be interesting to know how long this Charte Marianne has been in force and exactly how much positive effect it has had [blink]

[Sunday Driver]

If you click on my link (or the one you copied into your post) and read the official explanatory document, you'll find that it was trialled in a few departments during 2004 and introduced formally in 2005.  You will also find that the document contains eighteen pages detailing a wide range of improvements....[8-)][8-)]

 

[Chancer]

[quote user="Sunday Driver"]

The clever bit is - the Charte says they can't ignore your complaint......[;-)]

[/quote]

Wannabet?

As Ernie pointed out this is France;

Still it cant all be bad, it must create a few more fonctionaires [6]

[Speedy]

I agree with JR's comment above!

Irrelevant of what the law says - it depends on the person, day of the week etc.....

And yes I can give you lots of examples of what the law says and even the 'authorities' do not repsect thier own laws!!

[Sunday Driver]

[quote user="Speedy"]I agree with JR's comment above!
Irrelevant of what the law says - it depends on the person, day of the week etc.....

Really??

I suspect from his 'wink smiley' that JR was having a laugh, but you seem to believe this myth.

And yes I can give you lots of examples of what the law says and even the 'authorities' do not repsect thier own laws!!

Please do.  You could even start a new thread in the Legal Section along the lines of 'The rule of law doesn't apply in France'......[8-)]

[/quote]

 

 

[Will]

The fact that a law is widely ignored and may not be rigidly enforced does not mean the law does not exist or is not valid. And that certainly doesn't apply only to France. [:)]

[Speedy]

here's a current story, the chapter was closed a couple of weeks ago, about French LAWS :

Schooling.
My daughter has Englsih and French nationality.
The French LAW states that she must go to the local school in its 'catchment' area.
But...two years ago my (French) wife went to the school and she was turned away.
We then contacted the education accademy who were on our side , but no solution was found with 'our' school.
This year we returned, again she has been refused entry into 'our' school.
Now the LAW states she MUST go to our local school,  the local academy agrees this is so, but cannot force the school to accept our daughter(who incidently has has one of the best class results in her schools for several years!).
The only solution was for me to contact the French education mediator who gave an exception to put her in another school, and said this was NOT normal.
so what is the purpose of LAWS when the French - the people managing the system cannot/willnot enforce them.

I am sure given time I could think of many other situations, but then again I can't be bothered to have stupid remarks put in place by people who may live here in some ideal world but are obviously not aware that there are 'problems' encountered by people in everyday life.

Comments about 'Charte....' joke!
  

Post edited by a moderator

[Bugsy]

Troll alert

  

[Sunday Driver]

[quote user="Speedy"]

I am sure given time I could think of many other situations, but then again I can't be bothered to have stupid remarks put in place by people who may live here in some ideal world but are obviously not aware that there are 'problems' encountered by people in everyday life.

Comments about 'Charte....' joke!
  

Post edited by a moderator

[/quote]

You only joined this forum yesterday and you've spent most of the time making what people might describe as 'stupid remarks'.

You say the comments about the 'Charte' are a joke, but if you'd bothered to read the link, you'd know that it applies to state functions - not schools.  Reading some of your other posts, it seems you can't be bothered with a lot of things on here......[8-)]

 

 

 

 

[Speedy]

FYI If  you have read my 'many comments', you will notice that I said I used to be a member of this forum years ago under a different name.

As the mediators edit things you have no actual idea of what I wrote.

I would however like to understand why you consider that schools are not state functions??

Oh this is fun!

[Tony F Dordogne]

Do tell Speedy, who were you back then, some of the longer-serving people in here may remember you?

[Chancer]

SD

I have removed my smily from the post and put it here [:)], because I was being serious but having a laugh at the same time.

It is my defence mechanism about the few things that frustrate me here in France, this way I dont allow them to overshadow the many reasons why I love this (my) country and chose to live here.

[Speedy]

To JR Picardie : I don't know if its coincidence, but MOST of the incidents I have had occured whilst I lived in ....Picardie! I hope for you its not a bad sign.

[Bugsy]

So do you actually have a bike or not ?

[Speedy]

To Tony : who was I ? No idea what name I used! From memory it was way before 2005 - thats simply because I used to get living France some 12(??) years ago!

Bike : yes I have 2 if you include my 125cc scooter, my bike is a lot bigger.

[Bugsy]

[quote user="Speedy"]

................................................. my bike is a lot bigger.

[/quote]

but what is it ? You know, Make, model, engine size, colour etc.