Ha
I’m trying to be good…
Sometimes the speed creeps up when you are not looking…
But in general I try to keep the mindset that I am retired and never in a hurry so I don’t need to go any faster than the official limit.
Sorry but that’s just a myth.
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Certainly used not to be - that was how OH got his French license. He asked at the prefecture how his French points could be recorded as he had an English license and the woman behind the desk positively snatched his English license from him. 
But this was some years back.
Happened to me about 12 years ago 
@Tim17 is correct.
These days points are deducted from your virtual licence then applied to your ‘real’ French licence once that is issued.
I have had several speeding fines etc since I moved here in 2005 and have never been asked/instructed to change my licence.
The text suggests the onus is on the licence holder to change voluntarily which I can’t recall seeing on the infraction letters before yet further reading elsewhere indicates that if you don’t change then effectively you’d be driving ‘sans permis’ which would be a concern.
@tim17 - the law is the law: if you commit a driving offence in France, you are obliged to exchange your licence for a French one. You wil not receive a request from the authorities to do so - it is your responsibility.
I am afraid ignorance of, or a decision to ignore, the law is not a valid defence.
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Absolutely. Tod went to the prefecture to ask what he should do. This was in the days when it was sorted out at the prefecture.
Nope, not a myth. Kim Cranstoun’s FB group is full of people doing (or have done) just that.
And Mark has given the reference as well. Why should an infraction letter include this instruction given that they are standard letters for everyone, and are long enough already.
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Just dug out my Avis de Contravention from last year’s speeding fine and it clearly states in section 5 on page 2 that if there is an obligation to change the licence it will be mentioned on the front - ‘‘le permis de conduire doit être échangé’’. Given this message has not been appeared on any of the Avis’s I’ve received to date I believe that I have acted correctly in not changing my licence despite the various bits I’ve read to the contrary.
Just found this -
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Entirely up to you Tim. Several people have given you info/links about the current process put in place last year. Some are silent about infractions and exchange, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. You can choose to do your own thing of course, but I do suggest (as posted above) you carry this in your car as some gendarmes don’t believe that Uk licences are valid.
But why wouldn’t you want to change you licence? (You can’t now as the infraction has probably rolled off, but supposing you got another one)
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Are you saying that the information on the Avis is wrong and should be ignored?
I tried to change my licence three years ago and got rejected more than once and now can’t because it doesn’t expire until 2030.
when was the licence which expires in 2030 issued?
Issued in August 2020, got fed up trying to change the licence so took the easy but not legal route and renewed.
oops… ignorance nor frustration is an excuse.
From the linked post:
Just be aware that if it came to the attention of legal authorities your license might be invalidated and you might be in some legal trouble.
Not going to go through this again, I’m fully aware of the consequences so will have to take my chances like the 0000’s of other UK driving licence holders living here. If ANTS had got their act together we wouldn’t be having this conversation but that’s French bureaucracy for you. 
that said, ISTR other SF’ers faced with the same issue who did hold out and were granted their FR Permis just in time.
Seems some people like to have their cake and eat it
It was in the middle of the pandemic Graham and I was a few months away from not having a valid licence, given that I can’t live here without the ability to drive it was an easy choice to make and one I don’t regret for a second.
@graham - there was a confusing time in the run-up to and after the act of Brexit when no provision had been made for UK licence holders, but that was resolved in (from memory ) June 21 with a very clear set of rules in place. Most SF habitués (and most of those who visited @kim 's invaluable facebook page are in no doubt as to the requirements.
I should add that I am awaiting my French Permit as I had to surrender my UK licence when clocked at 1kph over the speed limit having departed the Dieppe ferry terminal at 04:00 one morning. Apart from the frustration of not noticing a 90 had changed to an 80, the whole process has been very easy but lengthy - about 6 months, with my permit apparently ‘in the post’ as I write.