Thank you.
The bank in Luchon she joined late last year did not issue a cheque book, they said banks are slowly doing away with them… .
Fair enough… then she completes the section as I have suggested… and you send that back to her bank in France, asking them to do whatever is necessary…
That will work… been there, done that.
Even if there aren’t funds to cover the bill?
Craig - does your mum speak any French? How has she managed transfers to the French account previously?
Getting the RIB should be easy.
Getting money into the French account should not be difficult - via one of the low cost outfits such as Transferwise or HFX or even transferring directly from her UK account.
If you can’t get her RIB even paying directly from her UK account assuming that you can get account details from the Trésor Publique - which Google suggests should be possible - shouldn’t be difficult.
Sorry Paul… I was assuming that his Mum would be prepared (as are the rest of us) for the bills that come in. Unless Mum is not compus mentis… she will know what is the situation.
If push comes to shove… me…I would write a cheque on my UK account with the amount in Euro… and send it with the Bill to the Tresor in France…( paying by cheque will be an option)… but there will be a small transaction charge made by the UK bank when the cheque finally hits the UK account.
If this really is a panic situation… these are the sort of ways to get around things… costs a little but it gets it done…
and do ensure that her reference number (shown on the Bill) is written/quoted on ANY payment method.
Craig already said there weren’t funds to cover it:
Also he only has the French card number by the sound of it and does not know the RIB.
Sorry Paul… missed that… or I would obviously not have suggested things as I did.
Seems to me, that my suggestion of paying by UK cheque written in euros will work… provided there is a UK bank account with enough money in it… 
I wonder if Mum has another account (Livret A or LEP) ??? in which case her Bank will assist with a transfer to the current account… 
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Not sure about that - even if the UK bank would honour the cheque it probably isn’t “negotiable” in France.
However the UK bank might be able to issue a foreign currency cheque which you can send off.
If you send a cheque written in Euros… the French Bank will take it and so will the UK…
I have done that as well in the past (I’ve done most things… I’m that old )
It is only a “query” when I used to pay sterling cheques into my French account… 
they took their time to put the “cleared” funds into my account and charged me for the transaction and xchange rate…
I’m not au fait with the ins and outs having not tried it (except I did once get the bright idea to get a Eurocheque book from my bank and use it on the continent which was a complete disaster).
I think the stumbling block would be the fees - these will be incurred on behalf of the Trésor so even if the TF is (say) 800€ and you write 800€ on the cheque the Trésor won’t get 800€ (as you are aware from paying cheques in Stirling into your own French account). They might go for it but I wouldn’t be surprised if they say “non” and I doubt Craig and his mum need the additional stress at the moment.
Edit - actually, strike that. I simply don’t know - it might work 
Given what we know of Craig & his Mum’s situation - bill to pay, possibly not enough in the French account to cover it and don’t know the RIB anyway - I’d start with asking someone who speaks French locally (i.e. in the UK) to phone the Trésor and see if they can give an IBAN for the payment and then pay directly from his mum’s UK account (assuming, as you say, that has funds).
Paul… Excellent idea to get someone who speaks French to help out… Son/Mum must know someone… hopefully… if not… how about a Travel Agent??
(Incidentally, a cheque written in Euros… will put Euros into the Tresor bank account… with no fees involved.)
It’s frustrating when you don’t have the details you need. I’ve just checked my bank’s website and I can get all the details that I need for me from there including a contact telephone number and the email address for help of my local bank. Is there any way you can find contact details for your mother’s bank online and email them? I still think that the easiest way will be to transfer enough from a UK bank using TransferWise or the like then to pay with your mother‘s debit card.
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In the end I thought it through again and, apart from the Trésor looking at a non-French cheque and just not wanting the bother I can’t see that it would be a problem - however if there is any doubt I suspect that Craig and his mum want something that will work in as stress-free a manner as possible.
I have almost forgotten what “stress-free” is like… since being on this thread
I am sure we can get them sorted one way or another… 
Cheques pass through the banking system in an orderly fashion… and are dispersed according to their country of origin…etc etc . (it was all a mystery to me at the tender age of 16, but no longer) 
Actually David’s suggestion is blindingly simple and very sensible - does your mum have online access to the French account?
Transferwise is easy to use but I don’t know how easy it is to set up these days (not difficult though - ISTR they had to do some anti-money laundering stuff when we were buying the house but that was much larger sums than we’re likely to be talking about here).
Wonderful… with on-line access, she can find out her RIB… (always a useful thing to have in the wallet).
Incidentally, if all else fails… “Mum” will surely have friends/neighbours in France… perhaps one of them could have a word with the Tresor folk and/or the bank in Luchon…(for advice)… this is an emergency situation, after all…
I’m in touch with Craig via private message… I’ve seen the paperwork now… and this will get sorted… …
Just so everyone knows… if you are stuck in UK and need to pay your Tax Hab/Foncier… you can get it done through your own UK Bank.
Simply phone your Tresor Publique (the one near to where your house is in France) and ask them to email/fax or whatever… a RIB. Take the RIB to your UK Bank and ask them to send the funds … but make sure that the transfer of funds has your own reference/avis number on it, so that the money gets properly allocated by the Tresor, to pay your Bill.
similarly, you can use the Tresor RIB to ask your French bank to make a payment… if that is where the money is…
cheers