A little warning when displaying parking tickets

[HoneySuckleDreams]

Apparently, it's the law that you must display a parking ticket on the side of the car next to the pavement (technically you should also have parked facing the on coming traffic), so the parking flic doesn't have to exert themselves.

It's not good enough to just buy the ticket and display it in the windscreen, it has to be on the correct side. As Mrs HSD found to her dismay.

Just a heads up that's all.

[woolybanana]

I don't think you mean 'facing the oncoming traffic', do you HSD as that means crossing the carriageway?

[Loiseau]

Arrrrghhhh! Surely not facing the ONCOMING traffic, HSD?

My Code Rousseau says you must be parked on the right, facing the same direction as the traffic flow. Though in a one way street you can park on the left if the street is wide enough.

Angela

[HoneySuckleDreams]

oops sorry...I forgot the important words      ' parked facing "away from" the on coming traffic' ...it was my haste to inform you all on this most important point ... silly fingers !

 

 

[Kitty]

Where in France have you bought a parking ticket?  [8-)]

I can't remember ever buying a parking ticket in France, other than at Bordeaux airport.

[Loiseau]

Horodateurs all over the place in the Vendée; Les Sables d'Olonne, La Roche sur Yon etc.

Angela

[HoneySuckleDreams]

[quote user="Kitty"]Where in France have you bought a parking ticket?  [8-)]

I can't remember ever buying a parking ticket in France, other than at Bordeaux airport.

[/quote]

Toulouse, Paris, Pau, Dreux, Evreux, Biarritz, Mulhouse...lots of places

[Russethouse]

Quimper, St Malo, Dinan, Dinard, Rouen , Biarritz etc.....

[Gardengirl]

Not to forget all of our area of the south.

[YCCMB]

[quote user="HoneySuckleDreams"]

 ...so the parking flic doesn't have to exert themselves.

[/quote]

A reminder also, should it be required, that parking flics are jobsworths the world over..

[Hoddy]

I'm the proud possessor of a resident's parking permit which means I don't have to pay at the horodateur.

Hoddy

[Chancer]

Been here 9 years and still yet to buy a parking ticket, there are some pay and display streets and car parks in Amiens but unless you are allergic to walking you dont need to use them.

And since having French plates I have not paid for parking in the UK either although I do have almost the entire end wall of my garage decorated with penalty charge notices [:D]

[Nell]

Oh, I never thought of that one !!!

They don't call you Chancer for nothing then... lol

[tonyinfrance]

One of the small carparks in Carpentras has a ticket machine which requires the registration number of the car but of course it cannot accept foreign (i.e. British) numberplate layouts so I can't pay even if I want to......

[idun]

[quote user="Kitty"]Where in France have you bought a parking ticket?  [8-)]

I can't remember ever buying a parking ticket in France, other than at Bordeaux airport.

[/quote]

Ah Kitty, we have bought them all over France. How have you avoided them?????

I remember parking in my local city and the parking machines didn't work. I saw a Pervenche and went and told them that the machine wasn't working and I didn't want a ticket. They laughed and said that my car would be OK. I asked why and they said I was anglaise. I said that my car was french and so they told me to go back and put a note on it, saying that the machines were not working.

My village pharmacist in France never bought a parking ticket if one had to go to a machine. She would get fined about once a year, and said that it was cheaper than paying everytime.

[Gardengirl]

In our small town you get 1½

hours parking free in most of the car parks, then pay after that and the two big ones on the outskirts are free. To park on roads near the centre of town for the market etc can mean quite a long walk, apart from in our direction, so we get a lot of parking around us on Saturdays for the market. We live so close it's rare for us to need a car park as we walk in to shop, meet friends etc although sometimes that free 1½

hours comes in useful if we're on our way back from a run and need a few things - or when a southern downpour arrives maybe.We could have a locals' card, but it's never seemed worth bothering when 1½

hours is free. Many of the nearby villages have free car parks, but Nimes, Avignon etc have high charges, especially in the underground car parks, but they are beautifully cool and rarely have miscreants in them as classical music is played in them.

Since parking charges were changed at the Pont du Gard, we now have a residents' card and don't pay, like most places in the area; until then we bought an annual card for around 24€. Pedestrians, cyclists etc are now charged for each visit - 10€ I think.

[Judith]

Well if you must go and park in towns. ... we usually find a free parking .. even if it means walking a bit.

Bit I had heard about this putting on the side of the windscreen near the curb ...

[Chancer]

[quote user="Nell"]Oh, I never thought of that one !!! They don't call you Chancer for nothing then... lol[/quote]

No element of chance involved!

Although perhaps they think there is a chance I might pay the penalty charges.

No chance!!

[idun]

Chancer have none of these pv's ever dropped in your french letter box? I really had thought that they were going to start chasing these up.

[dwmcn]

Kitty,

We buy parking tickets all the time, all over France, from machines in the street. Have you never seen the word PAYANT marked in the street? Remember the blue line parking zones, though.

David

[dwmcn]

HSD,

As I remember, drivers park facing every direction in France.

David

[NickP]

[quote user="idun"]Chancer have none of these pv's ever dropped in your french letter box?[/quote]

That's a bit of a personal question for a forum idun? [:D]

[Pickles]

[quote user="idun"]I really had thought that they were going to start chasing these up.

[/quote]

IIRC, the UK has refused (along with Ireland and Denmark?) to sign up to a EU system to share vehicle registration details across borders for vehicle-related offences, on the grounds (again, IIRC) that it could not be proved that the foreign offence was committed by the registered owner of the vehicle. (which sound hypocritical, because in the UK they pursue the owner by default ...

[dwmcn]

gherkin,

Like chasing poll tax evaders in GB?

David

[Chancer]

[quote user="NickP"]

[quote user="idun"]Chancer have none of these pv's ever dropped in your french letter box?[/quote]

That's a bit of a personal question for a forum idun? [:D]

[/quote]

I can confirm that the box that used to contain my French letters has been empty for years, I now use it for rawlplugs!!!

Maybe when I return to France my boite à lettres (think maybe there should be a ^ in boite) will contain a backlog of penalty charges but no Idun, to date they dont travel well. Its just something put out hoping to scare people into paying.

When you think about it a parking penalty or a speed camera notification are both just invitations to pay to avoid a more expensive court procedure, only if guilt were determined in a court could they enforce the penalty and within the jurisdiction of that country.

Same deal with PV's from Belgium although 99% of the French pay up, never had a PV in France as I drive too slow, got one in Belgium where was distracted I didnt see that a temporary limit was in place, I car share with diving buddies to Belgium and when I drive they are convinced we will be stopped, the car impounded and all of us locked up. Not just joking but they are really really panicky, when we cross the frontier on the return they breath a sigh of relief and phone home to say dont worry now, I will be back now this evening.