Yes I have a French reg car. I agree, I think they have a points account for me, and I think the best way is probably to apply for a french licence and maybe if I'm super lucky the points won't get transferred. To all who think it sounds like I talk about the points as an achievement- believe me, they're not, it reflects that I am an irresponsible driver and is also very embarrassing that I have let it get as far as 10, so you don't need to worry about how I'm treating the situation.
Very informative Rachel. My points must be back up to 12 at this stage.
Caz Jeffs
I agree with EA about âbadge of honourâ status but i too have a problem. Husband driving & weâve got lost, unaware we crossed road with differing speed 90 down to 70 Iâm busy setting sat nav to go home. Camera flashed he reckons doing 83, so was puzzled why, after which we saw sign indicating end of 70 limit! We too now have french reg but UK licences. Is it true that to contest a fine you pay all costs? Reimbursed if successfull but can be costly?
They will get her one way or the other - they do have a 'points account' for French reg vehicle drivers, whatever flavour their licence. If she's driving around in a UK reg vehicle that's another kettle of fish.
Well said Brian
As I understand it, if you have a UK licence but are living in France that is fine under both French and UK law. The UK DVLA will not acknowledge a French address. We were in this position but our UK licences came up for renewal, so as French residents we applied for a French licence and received it with no particular difficulty. The application forms were pretty clear and as long as you took all the relevant bits of paper there was no problem.
Before that, I did get one speeding fine, and in the small print it said that there was a box that would be ticked if the offence was such that I would need to change my licence immediately. For speeding that was not the case, and I don't think the theoretical points deduction would apply to my subsequently acquired French licence (though I haven't checked on line). Whether if Isabelle gets to 12 she will be required to get a French licence I don't know, but as points do not transfer she may be better off with a UK licence as long as possible.
Possibly but it irritates me because it is very illogical!
Isabella - If you don't commit any more offences your points should start trickling back, probably several at once - HOWEVER if I were you I'd swap the licence and do a stage because if you lose your licence you will have to redo it, after a 6 months' break from any licence at all where you will have to undergo psychological tests to identify why you disobey the law, yadda yadda, at your own expense obv, and then re-do the code - I don't think they make you do the driving bit again. This happened to a friend of mine last year who teaches in my lycée in Ste Foy but lives in Bordeaux with her children, none of whom drive. As you can imagine it was very very tedious for her & she rued the day she didn't do a stage. If you have only 2 points on your licence and commit an offence worth 2 points they will take you off the road on the spot.
Yes John you are right about getting the points back.
When we left the UK we contacted the DVLA to tell them and to ask whether we had to change to a French licence. They were quite clear: we can keep a UK licence while living in France. We offered our son's address for our UK contact address and the DVLA were happy with this, you do not have to be resident at the address on your driving licence, only contactable via that address. New UK licences were issued bearing our son's address. We investigated this in great detail as a lawyer friend believed we would have to transfer to a French licence, but eventually even she was convinced that it would be up to the French authorities and then only if we committed offences. We have been asked to show licences once by French cops, and they were completely happy (and knew where we live in the next village) but were checking for uninsured cars at the time and our carte verte was clearly displayed. Aviva were perfectly happy with our UK licences as well, bearing as they do the EU stars.
I also understood that the reciprocal agreement between France and UK now meant (or will do very soon, I can't recall when it changes) that offences committed in France can incur penalties on the UK licence, but then our health care costs incurred in France are allegedly reimbursed by the UK, and I've heard nothing about how that works, either!
Since points are deducted from French licences and added to UK ones maybe you should do a bit of speeding in the UK to balance things out and end up with a zero balance. Alternatively, maybe you should just slow down because 10 points (is that really 10 offences?) in a year is quite a score score 
Is there some particularly tricky speed trap near you? I got caught twice on the A7 a couple of years ago when they first clamped down on speeding. It was was just a couple of sneaky, very short 130 to 90 and back to 130 stretches beside service areas. Having braked hard when I saw the signs I was only caught doing 90 something and they deducted a percentage for that which meant I was done for only a couple of clicks over the limit. I paid the fines and heard no more about it. Now I use the GPS all the time to warn me of limit chamges. The plus side is I actualy drive faster because the speedo, by law, always over reads, The GPS gives me an accurate speed so I normally do a legal speedo indicated 145 in 130 zones.
Whatâs a marriage cert. got to do with a driving licence? Maybe it was really a change of name issue?
Nope, just place of birth. I just looked at the 'rules' for EU licences whilst I was out and all changes of address in all EU licence issuing states must be notified, but the licence is not invalid, simply the issuing authority - which is a department here - must be told. It leaves it a bit 'grey' but on the strength of what the DVLA told me, I take it that anybody renewing using a proxy address is actually breaking the law.
I had a UK licence and have used it in France since 2009. In April last year I got a ticket from a roadside speed trap, paid the fine and thought no more of it. In May this year there's a message on the ansaphone from the local Gendamerie to call in and see them. Some authority had advised them of the ticket and that no points had been deducted and I was instructed to change to a French licence and present it for inspection once received. I've made the application, been called to the prefecture to handover my UK licence and received an attestation in lieu valid for 2 months. I await receipt of the French licence. If, as I think someone said above, the points come off after a year they'll have already lapsed!
Lift that right clog off the pedal a bit, Isabella. Ha ha !
Veronique, in such a situation wouldn't you be better off insisting you were British or does that open a new can of worms?
Your tale brings to mind a personal anecdote. My son, who lives in UK and is dual UK/Australian from birth, applied for a place at a 6th form college and took his UK passport to the interview. Later we received a letter from the college, stating they had a copy of his passport but also required a copy of his visa. I found this request rather strange but it transpired that he give his nationality as Australian on the application. However, the college never bothered to compare the passport with the application form - why would they?
Sorry, my point was that when you leave the UK and become resident in another country your UK licence does not become invalid/illegal just because it shows your incorrect address. That is only a requirement for UK residents. You may retain your UK licence in France until it needs renewing or you are told to exchange it for a French licence to allow them to remove points.
Just out of interest do you have a new style French EC licence and, if so, does it show your address like the UK one does?
That is not what I said. In the UK, and I imagine other countries, for the sakes of being able to maintain contact with drivers for instance for such matters as penalties, there is a requirement that the issuing authority has one's fixed, permanent address. I needed to renew my licence, of course realised that it would only have been renewed up until my 70 birthday anyway, but did not have the requisite UK address. So I renewed here which turned out to be very easy and not as umpteen people had said full of obstacles, translations and anything else. Of course proxies are not legitimate for the reason you state - a third party's address is not the licence holder's fixed abode. If the permanent address is outside of the issuing country, then renewal is carried out in country of residence. That is a fairly reasonable and almost too logical thing. If people think they can avoid penalties by having a UK licence then they are mistaken because the data is exchanged between countries and fines issued in country a can be collected in country b, both France and the UK have signed up to that. The points issue remains complicated because of the different systems, but in the event of a ban then the DVLA is informed. There is no ban from driving in the UK with that but if the driver then offends in the UK that can be taken into account when deciding what the penalty will be. That was another thing, reading the relevant EU directives that made me decide to change for a French licence. My OH whose Swiss licence expired whilst we were in the UK renewed there, fortunately we were living in Swansea so only 20 minute from the DVLA, which happened virtually over the counter - at least that is to say the whole thing processed but then delivered by post two or three days later. When I renewed, although she had lots of years left, she decided to do the same. The prefecture 'knew' she was originally a Swiss licence holder and had renewed in the UK, which for me goes to show the extent to which data are exchanged, albeit she had no problems other than a question on the phone about why she had renewed in the UK.
Anyway, people abusing by any means should no longer be tolerated and allowed to get away with it. Some of them think it an enormous joke. I would prefer them not to be on the road with that cavalier attitude.
I kept my English driving licence for about 5years. I committed the odd little speeding offence, paid the fine and never did anything about the points. it seems they canât add points into an English licence. When I did eventually change my licence for a French one in order to do my motorbike test. It was no problem and no points.