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Checking points for speeding

Posted: Mon 13 Oct 2008 12:55
by rbg
Does anyone know how you can check on the internet how many points you have on your driving license for speeding etc?

Posted: Mon 13 Oct 2008 13:42
by Kate

Posted: Mon 13 Oct 2008 14:19
by Roger O
Kate, that tells you how/when/why you lose points - but not your individual "bilan" on your personal licence!
For example, after a certain period, 2 years unless I am mistaken, your points are reinstated in default of any
other "delit" committed during that period.

By the way, note this: usage d'un appareil testant la présence d'un radar.
If caught, you lose 2 points! Not advertised by those selling such installations!!
Source: last paragraph of Perte de 2 points :
http://www.securoute.net/r.php?n=41

To save confusion, it appears to me (I don't know, but infer from various posts) that in the UK you accumulate "bad points" on your UK licence, whereas in France, the licence starts off with a credit of 12 "good points" (6 for 2 or 3 years if you are a brand new new driver) of which which certain numbers may be deducted from your licence depending on the gravity of your "delit" until, at 0, (for "small deductions like "not too serious "speeding, etc.) your licence is revoked for a period - the length of which is determined by various factors, explained on the site you quote.

What we would all like to know, and is supposed to have been put in place, is our own personal licence "account balance" - presumably obtainable by giving the licence number (and perhaps a PIN or something?) and for which we can't find the site - presumably something with "govt" in it?

I've searched all over and can't find any existing method except to contact "your" préfecture. Now, all préfectures have websites, therefore if the local préfecture can access your individual permit points balance (presumably via your carte grise reference?), then why is this not accessible to the public via the website. It's a simple measure to set up a "membership" with password (to avoid "non authorised" others looking) and then just type in additionally (if necessary) the number of your licence. Or, would that mean some poor soul who does it today manually would lose their job??

I mean, you can do it for your tax returns, which are much more "sensitive" than a simple check on licence points!!
Long live the land of Napoleonic logic!!

Posted: Mon 13 Oct 2008 15:04
by PaddyFrog
Karen, you get a doc on line from the Prefet.
http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/part ... 0046.xhtml

once you have completed the request you can check on the net.

Posted: Mon 13 Oct 2008 17:42
by john
Erm,...am I being very thick/simplistic here,but isn't the easiest way just to look at your licence?!

In the UK at least ,you have to send it in to have the points added for each misdemeanour. On the basis they become nul and void after 4yrs,surely,by a simple calculation you can work out your current "balance"?

Or is that not how it works in Ireland/France?

Posted: Mon 13 Oct 2008 18:11
by Kathy
In the UK at least ,you have to send it in to have the points added for each misdemeanour. On the basis they become nul and void after 4yrs,surely,by a simple calculation you can work out your current "balance"?
Not wishing to be pedantic but as far as I am aware points last for 3 years in the UK.

Posted: Mon 13 Oct 2008 18:22
by john
Kathy wrote:
In the UK at least ,you have to send it in to have the points added for each misdemeanour. On the basis they become nul and void after 4yrs,surely,by a simple calculation you can work out your current "balance"?
Not wishing to be pedantic but as far as I am aware points last for 3 years in the UK.
Nope,Kathy..it's 4 yrs in all cases except death by dangerous driving/drink and drugs,which are 11 yrs.

(ref; DVLA's own leaflet.)

Posted: Mon 13 Oct 2008 19:12
by rbg
no, you don't send them your license, you get the fine in the post and the points are taken off your license.
Points last for three years in France

Posted: Mon 13 Oct 2008 19:29
by Kathy
Yes for administrative purposes points stay on the licence for four years and cannot be taken off before then, however, I was referring to the period of three years for the totting up system for disqualification.

Posted: Mon 13 Oct 2008 22:15
by mpprh
john wrote:Erm,...am I being very thick/simplistic here,but isn't the easiest way just to look at your licence?!
Nope, your license does not show your points "score". I am talking from real life experience here !

Peter

Posted: Mon 13 Oct 2008 23:46
by Roger O
john wrote: Nope,Kathy..it's 4 yrs in all cases except death by dangerous driving/drink and drugs,which are 11 yrs.
I would have thought in those cases it was for eternity
unless you need one "on the other side" for driving a
Chariot of Fire

Image

Posted: Tue 14 Oct 2008 09:10
by john
mpprh wrote:
john wrote:Erm,...am I being very thick/simplistic here,but isn't the easiest way just to look at your licence?!
Nope, your license does not show your points "score". I am talking from real life experience here !

Peter
Interesting...how,in practice then,do interested parties(eg car hire companies,potential employers etc etc) verify the cleanliness (or otherwise!) of your licence?

Posted: Tue 14 Oct 2008 09:26
by Roger O
Those with modern equipment scan your licence and (in a manner similar to that of a credit card by a checkout till) check its validity.
Those without such equipment lick their index finger and hold it up to the wind - in time-honoured fashion!

Ooops.. for the above, you need a biometric licence...

Posted: Tue 14 Oct 2008 09:31
by john
Still don't understand. I presume that every employer/car hire desk does not have access to this scanning equipment?

Posted: Tue 14 Oct 2008 09:37
by mpprh
I've never been asked about points by car rental companies.
They do photocopy the "permis", though.

The procedure is :

1)commit infraction grave
2)pay fine
3)receive letter confirming points loss

The letter re the points arrived 8 months after I had paid the fine - I thought they may have forgotten !

Peter

Posted: Tue 14 Oct 2008 09:38
by Roger O
Well, my reply above was a little tongue-in-cheek...
Maybe they face "east" (or Hôtel Matignon) and ask for divine guidance?

Posted: Tue 14 Oct 2008 09:46
by john
mpprh wrote:I've never been asked about points by car rental companies.
They do photocopy the "permis", though.



Peter
They won't ask you per se.

But,thats why when you rent a car in the UK (with a UK licence),and several other places these days, you have to provide BOTH parts (the pink card AND the green paper bit where all the penalty points are detailed).

Posted: Tue 14 Oct 2008 10:20
by mpprh
john wrote:thats why when you rent a car in the UK (with a UK licence),and several other places these days, you have to provide BOTH parts (the pink card AND the green paper bit where all the penalty points are detailed).
French licenses are on one card.

I don't really know about UK licenses because I last used one in 1990 !

Peter

Posted: Tue 14 Oct 2008 11:59
by Santiago
So what happens if you have penalty points on ypour license when you go to hire a rental car?

Posted: Tue 14 Oct 2008 16:27
by john
Santiago wrote:So what happens if you have penalty points on ypour license when you go to hire a rental car?
Simple really. If you have enough of them and they are for serious offences they won't rent you one .

End of........

Posted: Tue 14 Oct 2008 22:23
by rbg
thanks Paddy frog, will check anon

Posted: Sat 30 May 2009 09:38
by mpprh
mpprh wrote:I've never been asked about points by car rental companies.
They do photocopy the "permis", though.

The procedure is :

1)commit infraction grave
2)pay fine
3)receive letter confirming points loss

The letter re the points arrived 8 months after I had paid the fine - I thought they may have forgotten !

Peter

GUILT .............


I've been doing a lot of autoroute driving recently, including UK and back.

Yesterday, I received one of these tear off the sides to open and read the letter things. Rather similar to those you get after being flashed by a speed camera, in fact !

At the top was the logo of the French state and the introduction listed various French laws.

I was nervous, and my wife seemed to be ready to launch into a " have you been speeding again - I've warned you before ....... " type of pep talk.

Reading further, I discovered that my single point (deducted for an adjusted 113 km/h in a 110km/h limit) had been restored as three years had passed.

Of course, I wasn't really worried !

Peter

Posted: Sat 30 May 2009 10:12
by opas
:lol: :lol: :lol:

I too know someone who had one of these this week........He was worried :roll:

Same thing, one point added back on from 3 years ago.

Posted: Sat 30 May 2009 10:53
by polremy
Well, we drove 2cvs for years and Mr. PR still managed one speeding fine. Quite an achievement.

Slightly off topic - that rogue parking fine.
Found the office hidden behind the police place near the gare in Perps.
Took them the notice and our original parking ticket.
Expected to be treated like a criminal but the girl couldn't have been more pleasant.
She stapled my purchased ticket to the notice, gave me a piece of paper and a letter to copy stating that I had a valid ticket and then said that that was the end of the matter. Nothing to pay.
We now realise the probable reason for the fine - Mr. PR stuck our ticket on a side window instead of the windscreen.

Posted: Sat 30 May 2009 17:17
by mpprh
polremy wrote:We now realise the probable reason for the fine - Mr. PR stuck our ticket on a side window instead of the windscreen.
Shhh ......... That may be a capital offence ?

Peter

Posted: Sat 30 May 2009 17:30
by polremy
mpprh wrote:
polremy wrote:We now realise the probable reason for the fine - Mr. PR stuck our ticket on a side window instead of the windscreen.
Shhh ......... That may be a capital offence ?

Peter
yeah, i wasn't going to say anything about that at the police station unless i absolutely had to.
we read the small print on the ticket and it said it had to be the pare-brise.
think we got away with it!!!

Posted: Sat 30 May 2009 18:56
by mpprh
polremy wrote: we read the small print on the ticket and it said it had to be the pare-brise.
think we got away with it!!!
Being an honest man, the price of my silence is that much more expensive ................

Peter

Posted: Sat 30 May 2009 19:18
by polremy
erm - can do you a little tapas and a glass of rioja if you happen to be passing - will that do?