43,000 Britons are fined in UK for speeding in France
More than 43,000 British drivers were caught breaking the law on French roads last year and were sent automatic fines averaging €100.
In all, 13.3million penalty notices were sent out in 2015 and the Britons were among 2.1million foreign drivers caught by automatic speed cameras and red-light cameras — 39% up on 2014.
The foreigners were among 20million motorists who were flashed in 2015 and the rise comes after France agreed new cross-border driver information-sharing as part of EU road safety legislation.
Spanish drivers committed the most offences, with 442,234 fine notices being sent out but this figure included 160,000 fines that had not previously been processed.
Next came Belgians on 382,831, Dutch 338,615, Germans 333,447, Swiss, 158,002, Polish 131,409 Americans 51,496, British 43,138, Luxemburgers 32,071 and Romanians 28,754.
British drivers are not covered by cross-border information sharing — the UK, Ireland and Denmark are exempt until May 6, 2017 — but driver details were passed on to the Antai traffic violation agency by car-hire companies who received penalty notices as the vehicle owners.
In addition to the fines, the drivers also receive an extra bill for frais de traitement de dossier for the company’s work in dealing with the complaint. For most companies this is about €30.
European figures show that non-resident drivers make up 5% of traffic on countries’ roads but account for 15% of the offences.
