Crit Air Stickers - the french dont seem to be bothering

jongood

jongood

Joined
Jun 10, 2010
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Location
Shrewsbury (sometimes)
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12,013
MH
N&B Clou Liner MAN
Exp
2006
Im currently in Morocco, there are thousands of French Motorhomes here and hardly any of them are fitted with a Crit Air sticker. Some of them are newly registered to ZPad regions and still don't have them.

I can just about get by in French and have found the opportunity to speak to some of them and it seems to me that they re not bothering yet - waiting to see if its enforced.

I know they re easy enough to get and not expensive - my reservation is that by registering I am volunteering my details to their database that could easily bite me back on tolls and minor roads etc where most of us and them take a few liberties.

Does anyone have any idea if and how it will be enforced? or is it breathalysers again?

Jon
 
Take care if you visit Paris, rumour has it that British MHs not bearing stickers will be easy targets for the gj when they run out of national monuments.

How is anything enforced in France? When the gendarmes vin fund needs a top up.
 
I don't have a crit'air sticker for our MH because I have no intention of driving it into Paris etc. Perhaps those French in Morocco have a similar reason?
 
Lot lover said:
I don't have a crit'air sticker for our MH because I have no intention of driving it into Paris etc. Perhaps those French in Morocco have a similar reason?
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True enough but the new zpads cover whole areas - Gironde, Niort, Poitiers, Nantes, La Roche sur yonne etc etc. all places I travel fairly regularly.
 
jonegood said:
Ok but they re ignoring it as well!!

Jon
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Current restrictions for our van are the centre of Paris only so I guess the French are arguing that they don't really want to be there so why bother as the chances of ZPA being invoked and enforced are pretty slim and if they are they will only be enforced on the Brits.

Chances are if they did invoke a local ZPA or ZPAd it would not include motorways through the region otherwise it could be total chaos, much like the Brussels Zone which does not include the two motorways that actually cut through the zone on the East and West side.

Martin
 
Apart from Green-Zones GmbH, a commercial company which runs multiple websites in many countries (and an app) in order to drum up business for its overpriced vignettes, it's not easy to find much information about these ZPAd zones.

I have found this site https://www.mma.fr/zeroblabla/vignette-crit-air-obligatoire-quelles-villes.html#.XGUt3S10duU which isn't part of the 'Green-Zones' stable as far as I can tell and offers a bit of an insight into the workings (or not) of the various ZCR, ZPA and ZPAd schemes. One of the things it says is that the borders of a ZPAd aren't clearly defined. How will that be operated?

The measures applicable even in the mandatory areas vary from one to another, with some banning vehicles with the wrong or no sticker only after several days of pollution, so that's not simple and straightforward either. For example it says Grenoble bans vehicles with no sticker on/after the fifth day of pollution and those with Cat 4 & 5 on/after seven days, but the fine for non-compliance is 'only' 35€, whereas other places start sooner, with higher fines. There are also statements made about reduced speed limits at times of pollution. How would those be notified?

I agree foreign vehicles could be a bit of an easy target if and when these other zones are enforced. I can also see why the locals aren't quite as worried about the situation as people who read the sites/app from Green Zones!

I've bought a sticker anyway, though I completed the purchase before applying for a weight upgrade past 3.5t.

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Clash of cultures
If there are rules - we Brits abide by them and tacitly accept the cost of policing them
The French accept there are rules but understand the importance of not wasting valuable & limited resources enforcing them.
 
Littering, flying the Union flag (usually upside down), speeding past school exits are all illegal and antisocial. Rarely see litter in France, never seen the French flag upside down and if you speed near a school the consequences are severe. The list is endless.
 
funflair said:
Current restrictions for our van are the centre of Paris only so I guess the French are arguing that they don't really want to be there so why bother as the chances of ZPA being invoked and enforced are pretty slim and if they are they will only be enforced on the Brits.

Chances are if they did invoke a local ZPA or ZPAd it would not include motorways through the region otherwise it could be total chaos, much like the Brussels Zone which does not include the two motorways that actually cut through the zone on the East and West side.

Martin
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Same with E40 through Essen and Duisburg, which is a dual carriageway but with crossroads and traffic lights, so not an Autobahn.
 
iandsm said:
Just get one, it’s only a few Euro’s. And you will never have to think about it again. Never mind about what some French people , do or don’t do. Paddle your own canou.
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Messy to do if one is not at V5C address as they will only post it there.

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Lot lover said:
@jonegood - your 3rd paragraph is the typical response of a criminal.
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Then by that opinion the French government are in the same boat.
When the French government stop using data gained illegally from French companies running services for the UK government in the UK, to track down & attempt to fine people in the UK, for offences committed in France you can criminalise the op. Until then alls fair in love & war.
If it is ok for a government to work flankers then it is a free for all for everyone.
 
Took me bloody ages to work out how to shrink our V5 doc to enable us to e-mail it to the Crit Air office, in fact I was border line bald with frustration at the time, tears nearly!:mad::mad::mad:
Now you tell me The French aint fussed about having it!:mad::mad::mad:
Sacre Bleu:mad:
Les
 
iandsm said:
Just get one, it’s only a few Euro’s. And you will never have to think about it again. Never mind about what some French people , do or don’t do. Paddle your own canou.
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I said in the OP why I would rather not.
 
Makes me wonder about the other countries like Germany etc.
Should we do as the French and not bother with those either?
Anyone know of anyone getting a warning for not having one yet?
Maybe we should all apply for Diplomatic plates, they seem to get away with everything, speeding, parking and The LEZ.
Just need a Surrey Embassy built and we are away!:D
Les
 
Y
jonegood said:
I said in the OP why I would rather not.
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Yes you did. I don’t see what liberties you would be taking at tolls they charge by size which they measure . On minor roads perhaps you are thinking of 3.5 limits I expect if the Gendarms were interested they would just pull you over and look at your data plate anyway.
 
iandsm said:
Y

Yes you did. I don’t see what liberties you would be taking at tolls they charge by size which they measure . On minor roads perhaps you are thinking of 3.5 limits I expect if the Gendarms were interested they would just pull you over and look at your data plate anyway.
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They might measure but not convinced they weigh;)

Martin
 
iandsm said:
Y

Yes you did. I don’t see what liberties you would be taking at tolls they charge by size which they measure . On minor roads perhaps you are thinking of 3.5 limits I expect if the Gendarms were interested they would just pull you over and look at your data plate anyway.
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Strictly speaking we are classe 3 but because we are only on 4 wheels and just under 3m we get away with classe 2, this makes a fair difference and actually why should I pay the same as an 18 tonne truck for being less than 1 tonne over the threshold. Again the camping caristes refuse to pay anything more than that even for tags which strictly speaking are classe 4 ( ridiculous). My issue is that if we volunteer our details we are more likely to have hassle on the peage and for the ZPAD crit air rules that the french accept foreigners have little chance to understand.

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TinaL said:
Took me bloody ages to work out how to shrink our V5 doc to enable us to e-mail it to the Crit Air office, in fact I was border line bald with frustration at the time, tears nearly!:mad::mad::mad:
Now you tell me The French aint fussed about having it!:mad::mad::mad:
Sacre Bleu:mad:
Les
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Sowwy Sowwy! Honestly I don't know if mine will get its MOT in 2020 so I'm not going to bother with crit air now. I live next to the Gendarmerie.... They come to my place (stadium) very regularly and never ever asked me anything!
 
Well I started to fill the form in on line but failed to reduce V5 form and gave up.then I downloaded the form and printed it off to do it manually and it's in French!!! No English version .lost the plot after that. Anyone help with reducing V5??
 
Appollo51 said:
Well I started to fill the form in on line but failed to reduce V5 form and gave up.then I downloaded the form and printed it off to do it manually and it's in French!!! No English version .lost the plot after that. Anyone help with reducing V5??
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This may help - https://www.reduceimages.com/
 
Thinking this through, most countries now have ANPR. If you are registered in that country they know everything about you automatically in seconds. If you are not registered they don't.

Anecdotally I was speaking to a swiss couple who have been caught in UK by not being registered. They inadvertently strayed into the LEZ in their brand new Carthago, so compliant vehicle = no charge, but because its not registered to UK the LEZ people are chasing and have asked Switzerland who have supplied their details and are demanding a fine that has now risen to £1800.
 
@Appollo51 - why should the form be in English, it is for use in France Oh Please!. You mayhavenotseen it on the news but Palmerston died in 1865.

The French do not waste my money translating every bureaucratic form into umpteen languages just in case.

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