Hereford Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 We are travelling to the Uk later this month via the tunnel. Yesterday we had an email message from them regarding the fact that we will be travelling at a busy time. Part of the email reads:" In-car breathalyser On 1 July 2012, a new legislation came into force in France. All drivers of a motorised land vehicle, excluding mopeds, must possess a digital breathalyser or an unused (and immediately available) breathalyser kit which conforms to NF standards. This rule equally applies to vehicles registered outside France. Only vehicles fitted with Breathalyser Interlocks are excluded. Failure to carry a breathalyser in your vehicle will NOT incur a fine. Be fully prepared. Call into the AA travelshop, in our Folkestone Passenger Terminal Building, for all compulsory or recommended car equipment required for driving abroad."Well: we have the kits but we thought that the law had not been promulgated. Good way to sell unwanted items though. In any case we are travelling from Calais... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Look at the date: yes, the legislation was passed but subsequently it has been decided to reduce the fine to zero.So, you are supposed to have one in your car, but will not face a fine if you do not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereford Posted June 5, 2013 Author Share Posted June 5, 2013 In that case if I did not live here I would not bother! Thanks for clarifying this though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 I think they charge something like £7 a pop in the UK for a breathalyser when they are €1,25 in supermarkets here. Its all a ploy to get motorists to buy expensive items over there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kong Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 They finally appeared in the supermarkets round here a couple of months ago. Then after a month they disappeared. Nobody was buying them![:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Why would they !Only the French could transform what was a daft and pointless law in the first place into a ridiculous 'non law', I mean how you can possibly make a law which says that you 'must' do something but then attach absolutely no penalty for not doing it, exactly how is that a law ?I reckon the situation as it stands is a sop to Sarkos mate at Contralco who must have invested mega bucks in ramping up production in order to supply the untold millions of the wretched devices which original (mis)conceived law would have seen sold year on year but then saw it evaporate virtually in the blink of an eye.Ho ho ho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Only they werent able to ramp up production to a situation that they themselves engineered so it wasnt even a case of reacting to a changing market, they had a massive head start on all the competition but in typical fashion even that wasnt enough, all the delays to the law were because the french manufacturer could not meet the demand that it had created. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 [quote user="Hereford"]We are travelling to the Uk later this month via the tunnel. Yesterday we had an email message from them regarding the fact that we will be travelling at a busy time. Part of the email reads:" In-car breathalyserOn 1 July 2012, a new legislation came into force in France. All drivers of a motorised land vehicle, excluding mopeds, must possess a digital breathalyser or an unused (and immediately available) breathalyser kit which conforms to NF standards. This rule equally applies to vehicles registered outside France. Only vehicles fitted with Breathalyser Interlocks are excluded. Failure to carry a breathalyser in your vehicle will NOT incur a fine.Be fully prepared. Call into the AA travelshop, in our Folkestone Passenger Terminal Building, for all compulsory or recommended car equipment required for driving abroad."Well: we have the kits but we thought that the law had not been promulgated. Good way to sell unwanted items though. In any case we are travelling from Calais...[/quote]Just got the same email as you from Eurotunnel. However, when I looked at the French version of the email - look lower down in the email - there was an important difference in the French translation of the section you quote above:[quote]Sachez qu'à défaut de présentation d'un éthylotest, le conducteur ne peut pas être sanctionné. (Décret n° 2013-180 du 28 février 2013 modifiant l'article R 233-1 du Code de la route) [/quote]Hmmm ... bit sneaky that, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 It was actually there just not visible to a speed reader like myself. Failure to carry a breathalyser in your vehicle will NOT incur a fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 [quote]It was actually there just not visible to a speed reader like myself. Failure to carry a breathalyser in your vehicle will NOT incur a fine.[/quote] Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs! I did not see that AT ALL! Too wrapped up in condemning Eurotunnel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Me neither [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 I wonder if the class action instigated by several other EU states over the illegal French requirement for NF certified testers only is still going ahead, seems a bit pointless now wouldn't you say ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola2 Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 This is from a post on another forum of which Cooperlola was a member:Despite the above discussion and repeated confirmation from my colleagues in France, I have just see the outside REAR COVER of this weeks Le Mans Special AUTOSPORT magazine.Full page advertisement jointly from Alcosense and Halfords stating that "You'll need one of these by law".So ripping people off is still part of the national sport in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oboulez Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 The last couple of times I have been in the UK I have visited Halfords. Still prominently displayed next to the check outs are alco-testers with all sorts of warning of the requirement to have them in France. Are they committing some sort of misrepresentation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 [quote user="Louise-Gary"]The last couple of times I have been in the UK I have visited Halfords. Still prominently displayed next to the check outs are alco-testers with all sorts of warning of the requirement to have them in France. Are they committing some sort of misrepresentation?[/quote]Well, you ARE still required to have one, so if that's what they are saying, then I suppose they are just being ... let's say ... "economical with the truth", as evidently they AREN'T telling you that there is no fine for NOT having one ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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