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Poppy
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What upsets me most about this whole thing is the Doctor, maybe he did want to do things in what he sees as being 'the French 'way' but if he had done it when he was asked and when Poppy was away the whole repatriation scenario may have been very different.

As it is the insurance company will likely say that they deal with French doctors all the time ( which is probably true) and are able to get the information they need to act. Because of his lack of co operation frankly I think Poppy is on shaky ground with any complaint to the ombudsman, unless she goes through the fine print and finds that needing confirmation from your Doctor about your state of health before the trip is not mentioned.

Exceedingly frustrating......
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[quote user="NormanH"]Personally I would use the term Xenophobia or Chauvinism (which is not just male prejudice against women)

What it is not is racism, although it is very upsetting to experience.
[/quote]While it is not racism in the strict sense it may well be racism in the context of the race relations Act and other similar legislation in other countries. I remember one of the first prosecutions in the UK was of a doctor in England who advertised for a Scottish housekeeper because he wanted his porridge made properly in the traditional manner.
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" not racism in the strict sense"

Another example of the tendency to let the misuse of English (here the loss of a useful fine distinction) dominate to the detriment of clarity.

This is not an attack on you Rabbie. You may well be right in your observation.

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[quote user="Rabbie"][quote user="NormanH"]Personally I would use the term Xenophobia or Chauvinism (which is not just male prejudice against women)

What it is not is racism, although it is very upsetting to experience.
[/quote]While it is not racism in the strict sense it may well be racism in the context of the race relations Act and other similar legislation in other countries. I remember one of the first prosecutions in the UK was of a doctor in England who advertised for a Scottish housekeeper because he wanted his porridge made properly in the traditional manner.[/quote]

I think there was a thing with the Scots when this first came out.

I know there was a prosecution of an IT recruitment agency back in the late 80's who advertised for somebody Sottish for a job obviously in Scotland because I remember reading about it in Computer Weekly. I think the real reason was because they wanted somebody locally and it was a badly thought out advert but they still got fined. There was another alleged prosecution was because somebody advertised for a Scottish chef for Burns night but that's only hearsay.

Lets be honest though we could go on for ages and it does not really help the OP. Perhaps the best option is for her to seek legal advice before going too much further as they will tell her exactly what her options are concerning everything that has happened. I'm not too sure how you go about this but I am sure that somebody here will know. Spending a few Euros now may save a lot of grief later on. Saying that does anyone know if they do the 'first 30 minutes free' type thing in France to work out if there is a case to answer? Also does the OP have anything in their household or other insurance that might cover any legal fees?

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i think realistically all Poppy can hope for is that the gendarmes are sympathetic, believe her and dont share the views of the alleged aggressor, then hopefully they will give him a talking to and scare him, he is most likely to deny having said wat has been written or to blame it on Poppy misunderstanding his French (I am assuming of course that he wasnt speaking English)

I cant see the point in getting legal involvement especially at a time when Poppy has more than enough to occupy her.

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I am of the same opinion as Chancer. I think today is the day for the rendez-vous with maire and gendarmes so I hope it goes well.

I would be wary of writing to the papers etc. it might goad the digger driver and make him even more nasty.

Good luck Poppy and I hope the officials will help you.

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Thank you so much everyone for your support and comments. Sorry I haven't replied earlier but I couldn't connect;

The meeting with the Gendarmes and mayor was a bit of a PR exercise but similarly as Chancer said they did say they had warned the digger driver and if I had any more problems to contact them and they would prosecute. At the time I wasn't impressed and probably shook their hands very weakily but have just found out about a similar incident in a nearby village where the mayor actually said to english inhabitants of 25 years 'you are only foreigners sorry get lost' or words to that effect.

I'm sure I haven't won the war. The same digger driver and lorries were working further down on our lane when I went out this afternoon. When I returned the big lorry for transporting the digger was blocking the road and they were about to load the digger and move on. However when they saw it was me they pretended to start digging again. After waiting 15 mins I resisted the temptation to get out the car and backed up and made a detour.

Putting Insurance hat on I now have a copy of the questionnaire the medical assistance sent to our Doctor, it was three pages long in English!!!! Hopefully I can take it to Doc and work my way through it and get it sent off. Still don't think Doc has any records so please please please if anyone has an expat policy check your Doc can supply the info necessary if you have to claim.

Sweet, be grateful if you could pm details of your french travel insurance sounds like a much more sensible way of doing things. I am sure that insurance will not find any fault in my declarations but if this can be checked beforehand  then from experience that is definitely the best way.

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Poppy, I am glad you didn't confront the awkward s o d.

Here is a link to the company I used:

http://www.mondial-assistance.com/

I am posting this on open forum rather than in a PM because I have found some negative comments about them on the internet.  I didn't have to claim so I don't know for sure how they will be to deal with if a claim had arisen.

I thought that if I revealed the name out here, then other people who have used them or know of them can write down their input.

They were recommended to me by forum members so there will be others with more information.

Well done on handling everything so well today.  And stay brave and in charge....allez![:D]

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Sweet 17 thank you for the link.

Strangely enough three years ago when I had to make a claim for me on the same travel insurance policy it was mondial-assistance who were the emergency assistance company and there were no problems at all; We have taken out the insurance for 9 years now with the same company and for the last couple of years they have been to and frowing between medical assistance companies for policies issued in 2012 it is Aria Assistance and for 2013 policies it is someone else and they seem to be mixing and matching the policies to suit whatever is best for them.

I have now noticed that is possible to take out the policies direct with the medical assistance companies rather than the well known cover companies so will definitely be looking at insuring direct with mondial Thank You

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And so there is no formal official record/trace of the digger driver's actions, that is simply how I see it at the moment. And things being official in France is very very important.

A few of you have found what has happened today to be alright, I do not.

Personally I would still be going to the gendarmerie and doing a porter plainte.......... but that is me.

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I have understood what is going on and that Poppy's husband has very bad health problems.

Still,  IMO if the gendarmes had been doing their job properly they would have got that sorted out today at the meeting and then it would have been done.

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Idun, my head tells me I should be doing a pp but I think the Gendarmes said they would do one if another incident occured. Am I wrong in assuming they will start the prosecution or is it up to me?  Now with thinking cap on I can't believe the second incident I missed this afternoon when they blocked my route I should have phoned the gendarmes immediately. Before I went out there had been a couple of bad carer type events so I was trying to stay calm.

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Today the rhumatologist said he wanted to do more xrays/tests with hubby as an inpatient. Admission date is 11th March, I was hoping it would be earlier. Never mind, hopefully some breathing space to think clearly and get a few things like insurance and digger drivers sorted out.

Thanks again everyone for your help and support x

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