French racism at municipal Aires?? (1 Viewer)

[Jaws]

Yup.. just a toll road.. And yes it was manned.. Wellll, womaned actually !

 

[Jaws]

Thinking about it, I did mention it in a post last year when we got back..
I suspect it may well have been something that was tried but very briefly

 

[Abacist]

I am sorry.. Since when do visitors to the UK get charged more on toll roads than brits..
Or visitors to Poland, or in Croatia, Italy and Spain get charged more ??

To be honest I am unsure of what you speak as I certainly have no experience of it apart from in France..

Admittedly we have only done ( from memory ) 18 European countries so there certainly could be others that DO charge more but we have never visited them

I was just thinking of the general principal of businesses charging customers and not restricting my comment to toll charges. Perhaps I should have made that clear. You are probably right that road and bridge toll charges are usually not discriminatory though one can usually buy a season tickets or bulk discount tickets for commuters e.g. to cross the Tamar Road Bridge from Cornwall to Devon.

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[yodeli]

Yup.. just a toll road.. And yes it was manned.. Wellll, womaned actually !

I bet she was blonde ! Apologies to all my blond friends , Lily(best french friend) ...is not a real blond... but she can act it very well !!!

 

[MR. FUSION]

It could also come from the bank which has installed the cash machine. May be the Mairie never thought of why it was cheaper than with another bank, so not really aware of what it implied.
Best is to check the Aires'website. If there are more than one language (French obviously) ... than this is some sort of bug. Interesting to check indeed!

Frankie

Hi Frankie, am trying but campercontact is not working for me at the moment but will post that information to you. They were between Perpignan and Marseille.

 

[MR. FUSION]

Sadly we have had several bad experiences in France... With site managers taking the pee ( behind our backs but in VERY unsubtle ways), and being somewhat ripped off on charges made for various things..
While I am sure 99% of French folk are like our very own @yodeli , there is ( like in every country ) a small % to whom we are just 'the idiot rôti de bœuf'
Unfortunately it seem it is those we usually end up meeting !
On the way back home last January, with the gearbox in tatters we decided to use a toll road to try and remain in top gear as much as possible.
Pulled up to a toll booth and there was two prices.. One for French and one for 'non-nationale'
No idea if the practice is wide spread or even if it continues, but another example of our luck when in France and why we try and avoid it most of he time !!

They say travel broadens the mind don't they, well after over two months of the miserable rude Portuguese diddy people and the noisy unmannered selfish Spanish, the French are looking quite good ! How bout that

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[MattR]

Isn't this more about discrimination rather then racism, although I think it's neither ...... Just a glitch in the machine or a bank problem...

Why oh why do people chuck the racist card out of the Pram when it doesn't go their way ....

I guess it depends on what the OP thought at the time - maybe they weren't aware of the issue with foreign bank card charges / bank problem which appears more evident based on the subsequent threads.

Generally, the French aren't completely innocent when it comes to racist attitudes and they are very quick to give themselves the advantage and slow to respond to accusations to racist / nationalistic behaviour so it isn't inconceivable that they had restricted access to those with French credit cards in order to give their residents priority.

 

[Sheddy]

Back to the OP, it happened to us 2 days ago near Beziers, the barrier would not accept any of our cards, we went elsewhere.
Cest la vie.
Ed

 

[ruthiebabe]

Have had numerous problems with UK cards at Aires in France, usually there has been somewhere to pay with cash but if it's a long walk it's a pain. Not getting act together is the reason I suspect rather than a plot to exclude, but it's daft really when they actively encourage tourism. Still at least there ARE Aires and Motorhome facilities...the UK is really missing a trick given the growth in motorhoming

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[stcyr]

a 'nationale' is a road which does not depend on the State for maintenance - it does not mean a 'native' or in the case of 'non-nationale', a non-native. And if it DID it would be in the masculin form.

 

[finyar]

The aire at the ferry port in Ouistreham only accepted French cards. If you rang the number on the machine you could get a ticket from a couple of locations.

I stayed in this aire last week and it took an Irish card, interestingly it didn't print out a ticket but I think this was a different issue

 

[Spriddler]

..one of my step brothers lives in the south.. Visited him and his land went further than tghe eye could see ( literally )..

Should've gone to Specsavers

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[Spriddler]

I stayed on two sites last December (at Saumur and either Chinon or Cognac, can't remember) whilst en route South which were busy, packed I'd say, with itinerants (Gens de Voyage). Apparently the Gov't via the Mairie pays the site operator a nominal amount for itinerants to over-winter there. They were tips compared with when I've stayed in summer. Lots of kids tearing about on bikes, rubbish strewn everywhere and many muscular noisy dogs. Half the loos and shower doors were set at 'Engaged' to reduce the work of the cleaning staff although this just meant that those that remained available were awful.
It was my first experience of touring in France in winter in spite of 20 yrs motorhome and motorbike touring in Europe. I think in future I'll have a close inspection of sites before stopping or just use aires.

 

[GeriatricWanderer]

Stop using this word racism!! Since when is French a race?

 

[denisejoe]

Maybe able to use your English Credit Cards all over France soon since the bit B word apparently the French financial system has been wooing the English banks.

The only time we haven't been able to use our cards have been when the machines have been broken!

Joe

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[Spriddler]

I stayed on two sites last December (at Saumur and either Chinon or Cognac, can't remember) whilst en route South which were busy, packed I'd say, with itinerants.....................etc. .

Whoops! Me again. The above post (by me) should've been in the 'French campsites at Christmas' thread but am unable to delete this one
Have now reposted it in the correct topic.

 

[mitzimad]

The aire at the ferry port in Ouistreham only accepted French cards. If you rang the number on the machine you could get a ticket from a couple of locations.

worked ok with my uk card earlier this year

 

[magicsurfbus]

I don't ever recall not being able to pay somehow, but occasionally the machines on aires won't take our cards.

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[Wildbill]

i had a problem in France last year with my card put it down to falty chip a very nice french gentleman used his card and i gave him euros we stayed two nights.
he did not speech a word of English and i dont speek french we sat and got pissed together both nights
never ever had a problem in France
bill

 

[The Nomad]

Never had a problem at all.

NB. French people are not a different race than British people anyway, so whilst there might occasionally be discrimination between the two based upon country of origin, that can't be "racism".

 

[spitfire]

Sadly we have had several bad experiences in France... With site managers taking the pee ( behind our backs but in VERY unsubtle ways), and being somewhat ripped off on charges made for various things..
While I am sure 99% of French folk are like our very own @yodeli , there is ( like in every country ) a small % to whom we are just 'the idiot rôti de bœuf'
Unfortunately it seem it is those we usually end up meeting !
On the way back home last January, with the gearbox in tatters we decided to use a toll road to try and remain in top gear as much as possible.
Pulled up to a toll booth and there was two prices.. One for French and one for 'non-nationale'
No idea if the practice is wide spread or even if it continues, but another example of our luck when in France and why we try and avoid it most of he time !![/QU
Really? Lived in France for 12 years and never seen that. Which autoroute was it ?

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[Jaws]

I have NO idea which one it was other than it being on the way up from Spain and on the west side of France.. As I said, I had a lot more to worry about at the time and just followed the satnag

 

[yodeli]

Stop using this word racism!! Since when is French a race?

Deffo, but it is just an extension of the meaning. Many words even in English were created for a specific meaning, and are used differently nowadays. ISSUE for instance, taken as a problem now.

Racism today goes for a lot of things , as soon as it implies some form of hatress , or dislike.
Racism towards fat persons, or blond girls or disabled or simple minded people. Some populations even kill the persons being different by beating or throwing stones .
Of course my opinion only, and off topic.

 

[Tootles]

simple minded people.

That must be why people call me a racist. I often wondered why...........

Anyway, it's well known that, (apart from areas of Northern France), the French hate the British. They never forgave us for taking the cup at the Waterloo finals, or sinking their fleet at Toulon, sinking another fleet at Trafalgar, kicking their butt's out of Canada, saving their butts at Suez, winning their country back for them, twice, within thirty years, hiding De Gaul from the wrath of The Germans, refusing to eat Cannonball cheese, frogs legs, and other sea crustations. Refusing to let the BEF die for them in 1940......The list is endless.
Now, I can POSITIVELY GUARANTEE that you will have no problems with your English credit cards whilst visiting sunny Skegness.

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[yodeli]

That must be why people call me a racist.

Oh..! Don't you like simple minded people? They're all lovely people, always hugging you... Or may be you didn't read me the right way I said people are being racist towards simple minded people... but after all you can read it the way you like, I won't dislike you for that

 

[MR. FUSION]

Stop using this word racism!! Since when is French a race?

French is a language

 

[MR. FUSION]

That must be why people call me a racist. I often wondered why...........

Anyway, it's well known that, (apart from areas of Northern France), the French hate the British. They never forgave us for taking the cup at the Waterloo finals, or sinking their fleet at Toulon, sinking another fleet at Trafalgar, kicking their butt's out of Canada, saving their butts at Suez, winning their country back for them, twice, within thirty years, hiding De Gaul from the wrath of The Germans, refusing to eat Cannonball cheese, frogs legs, and other sea crustations. Refusing to let the BEF die for them in 1940......The list is endless.
Now, I can POSITIVELY GUARANTEE that you will have no problems with your English credit cards whilst visiting sunny Skegness.

We didn't help them in Nam, the Americans did, and look what happened then

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[rangi]

It's a bank problem with the Credit card, we found that sometimes if the CC is refused the Debit card works.
Another time at a Service station when we filled up with Diesel, our card was refused , but the joker in the office dragged out the old "Swipe" machine and it went through.

 

[Dognewf]

I have to say that once the French find out we are Scottish, not English, we get a completely different attitude.

 

[Duck Truck]

We love the French
Not of them let me!!!
But I am forever hopeful

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