Parking at Caen

[Choochoo]

Hi everybody

Last tuesday I went to the Ferry port at Caen to pick up somebody coming over from Portsmouth. On arrival I found the car park full and had to park in the road. On going into the building I noticed that there were only 10 people in there and wondered why, in that case the car park was full. I had some time to wait so decided to have a walk outside. Walking around the car park I counted 14 british registered cars with out of date Tax discs which had obviously been there a while judging by the build up of rubbish around the tyres. In addition to these 14 there were 2 cars which had clearly been dumped there as wrecks, they both had all flat tyres, damaged bodywork and smashed windows. None of the cars were displaying a French insurance sticker or a CT sticker, so all are clearly illegal on many points. The questions that came to my mind were:

If they are UK registered they must have a current Tax disc and MOT cert.

Do their owners commute to the UK, leaving them there for their return and going as foot passengers to save money.

If they drive in France they will be uninsured surely ?

If they are driving in France on their UK insurance they will probably be over their time limit for trips abroad and could find themselves uninsured should they have an accident and the ins. company find out what they are doing.

Do they have a current MOT cert. if not they are driving uninsured anyway.

any thoughts anybody ?

Is there anybody out there who owns one of these cars, perhaps your explanation would leave us all the wiser.

Sorry for the winge but it certainly gives a bad impression of the English to the French people.

 

John

[Benjamin]

It's years since I've been to Caen/Ouistreham but I would have thought that 16 out a car park full was not a large percentage.

This chestnut comes up from time to time to the extent that one of the posters on here (who afterwards claimed he was not serious) said that he'd go round and puncture all the tyres of Brit registered cars without current tax disks on the car park at the ferry terminal at St Malo.

The only people who can legitimately do anything about this problem are the Customs/Gendarmes but as you opinion what would be the result if someone was wiped out on the road by one of these sad individuals who can apparently afford a property in this country but cannot go the extra step to having a legally road worthy car here.

Benjamin

[WendyG]

Tis always the same at BF car park in Caen.  We travel through there frequently and there are always Brit cars parked which obviously have been there sometime.  I pointed them out to some "official" who gave the usual gallic shrug.

Most British insurance companies only cover for 31 days abroad so presumably unless covered by French insurance they are indeed illegal and accident cover will not be in force.

Understand this is situation in most port car parks and indeed airport car parks according to previous posts.

As you say sad situation if someone can afford property in France but not to run a legal vehicle.

[Sunday Driver]

Many of them will have taken the view that because the car is no longer being used in the UK, it no longer needs taxing.  And as most people regard the MOT as merely an unwanted administrative necessity in order to get a tax disc, they think they no longer need that either. 

They'll have been used to driving their cars in France on holiday without any special paperwork, so they won't see any difference in doing it now.  They've never been involved in importing or exporting a vehicle before, so they've no idea that there are specific rules to follow.  They're probably not even aware that they're breaking the law. 

On the other hand, many will take the view that as Brits, the law makes special allowances for them, so the French vehicle regulations don't really apply to them.

Of course, some of them will know perfectly well that they're illegal, but prefer to chance it.  After all, no-one's complained so far.....

 

 

[Frederick]

.I once had occasion to visit a Police Station on the Costa del sol.....parked in  a road alongside their building were lots of British registered cars they had rounded up . One was a Jag another  a Range Rover and all were decent cars  covered in dust and  with soft tyres ....The problem  must exist where ever Brits decide to buy ....Perhaps the authorities who control the car park for BF  should round these motors  up  after putting as sticker on to say they have 7 days to get them out  after which they would be siezed and moved off the carpark  then crushed if not claimed  from a compound within a month or two ... They could also give the owners who claim them a nice bill for storage . like 20  or 30 euros a day ....What happens when the car park gets filled up with these cars ..where do people park . its taking the micky