Almost 12 points and still have my English driving licence

Aren’t the single points a bit like a suspended sentence? If you pay up and don’t offend again within six months they are replaced but a second offence before six months has passed means that they run for two years.

I really do think it depends a lot on who you get at the Préfecture - I have been told I needed an official letter from the Fr embassy justifying my presence in the UK & therefore making passing my driving test there legit. Well I have dual nationality & have had since birth because I have one Fr parent & one British one & have always had 2 passports etc so I have never needed to justify my presence in GB or in France, but try explaining that to someone who obviously thinks dual nationality by birth is something I just invented to bamboozle her...

Thanks Veronique, that's really helpful! I find the process of getting back the points if they're only single ones hard to understand- the government website says, like you said, that if you got one point it can be recuperated within 6 months if no further infraction is committed. So say I do that, and get back that one point, can I then get back another 1 point after 6 months? From what you experienced it seems like you can, but the website says that those points before the last one received are "définitivement perdu" and you have to wait 2 years. All very confusing

I tried to change mine but unlike all other French bureaucracy they also wanted my first marriage certificate, translated into French. I don't have my first marriage certificate, I ripped it up and I'm not paying for a new one!

Who? Where?

If you have a French registered car it seems to open a virtual points account for you - I have a UK driving licence but each time I have been caught doing 51 when it should be 50 (so in fact 56) I got a letter informing me of it, and then another letter some time later telling me I had got my point back.

As any further offence within a year resets the clock, at one stage I had only 5 or 6 points left and I got an official letter suggesting I might like to do a stage & buy back 4 points, I didn't take them up on the kind offer because as far as I remember the stage takes 2 days and costs over 300 euros. As it is all my offences have been 1 point ones which you can now purge in I think 6 months rather than a year and I got a letter 18 months ago telling me I now have all my points back.

I have tried to change my UK licence for a French one but it has proved a bit more complicated for me as I'm French & I have to get hold of the person at the Préfecture for whom it isn't weird and unnatural that a Fr person should have passed their driving test in the UK.

I am rather shocked that some seem to treat these points as a badge of honour!

Actually that’s not an issue Brian, the DVLA tell you to refer to your host country’s regulations and the French are quite happy for EC licence holders to keep their licences until they expire. The wrong address is of no consequence to them as French licences, like those from most European countries do not show the holder’s address. The abuse of this system comes from the many expats who renew their UK licences using a third party’s address in the UK, that is not allowed.

Where it can fall apart is that we are supposed to have the correct address for our fixed abode on a licence. If somebody no longer lives in the UK they are in breech of that regulation and once the DVLA finds out, which they do eventually for infractions in other EU states, they will require a change of address. If you cannot provide a UK address which they may ask you to prove is your permanent address, then you may be obliged to change for a French licence. There seems to be a lottery element in it though. However, if a French authority such as a prefecture or court ask you to change for a French licence in order to be able to apply penalties, deduct points in this case, then you have no choice.

10, wow, that is impressive, I have 4 and thought that was bad. I’ve thought about changing my license but the thing for me is that I’ve had my first 2 for nearly 5 years now and they should be gone, but I’m told that when you exchange your license they put them all on together. That maybe untrue, someone may know better.
If I was you I think I would exchange my license asap so that you can do a course to lose some and they can start coming off.

i had a similar issueand at the tribunal the prosecutor asked for my licence to be suspended for 6 months,the judge sais she would very much like to suspend my licence but only an english court can suspend an english licence and as i am european anyone with a valid licence from their country of birth can use it in any european country hope this clarifies it for you

Isabella, please can you add your surname to your profile? It is a condition of membership.

Thanks

James

(Community manager)

Whatever! I should have used the word updated.

so your points can be added

Points are deducted off a French Permis for infractions....

I’m fairly sure that if the authorities want you to change your licence, so your points can be added, they will let you know. It might be a letter or even the Gendarmes at your door. I can’t believe that you will have any problems at the prefecture, you will be doing the ‘right’ thing on your own initiative after all. At least your New Year’s Resolution is straightforward; to be more aware of speed cameras.

Haha thanks, yes it's a talent I seem to have, and yes they were all 1 point ones. I do plan to exchange the licence, I'm just a little apprehensive as to how the Prefecture will treat it i.e. will they make a fuss and try to penalise me more (I've heard not exchanging immediately sometimes can be a 3 point offense). Quite honestly I didn't realise I had to change my licence if I received points until only a few months ago because as you say, nobody ever followed it up with me.

That’s pretty impressive. I presume they have all been one point offences from fixed cameras so no one has followed it up. If I was you I would exchange my licence for a French one if that allows you to offload some points. If not you will be walking on a knife edge every time you get in the car.

I thought I should add one point of note here. Information regarding traffic offences is not exchanged between the UK and France. The UK vetoed such a rule only a couple of years back. The rest of the EU yes but not the UK until May 2017. See link http://etsc.eu/faq-eu-cross-border-enforcement-directive/

Does anyone know what would happen if a French resident with a UK licence committed a traffic offence whilst in the UK on holiday?

they would probably send the fine to the address as printed on the Uk licence… check your expiry date on the Uk licence… the photo is only valid for 10 yrs… then… technically the licence is invalid!!.. there is an expiry date on the licence