French speed cameras and clean air certs.

[RayS]

Today's Sunday Times has a big article about the new generation of speed cameras in France and also the requirement for a 'clean air' certificate which may be of interest to regular travellers. (Drivers, beware le super-radar by Chris Haslam).
Given their accident rate I cannot argue too much with the idea, but it could complicate things for us particularly when towing. Satnavs which provide warning based on location rather than warning your of cameras (which facility should be disabled in France) cannot be relied upon to be up to date and most are car-only and so don't show towing limits.
I've also applied for a 'clean air' certificate on the basis that £4 is a small insurance to pay against the likelihood of getting lost or otherwise having to go into a city centre - Bordeaux is likely to join Paris and Grenoble shortly and it is not yet clear whether the ring roads round these cities will be included in the zones. You would think not given the volume of European HGV traffic they take, but this is France so anything is possible.
The application process is a bit tedious particularly getting the V5C document down to the maximum upload size allowed.

Could be a very expensive hloliday

 

[Woodentop]

Today's Sunday Times has a big article about the new generation of speed cameras in France and also the requirement for a 'clean air' certificate which may be of interest to regular travellers. (Drivers, beware le super-radar by Chris Haslam).
Given their accident rate I cannot argue too much with the idea, but it could complicate things for us particularly when towing. Satnavs which provide warning based on location rather than warning your of cameras (which facility should be disabled in France) cannot be relied upon to be up to date and most are car-only and so don't show towing limits.
I've also applied for a 'clean air' certificate on the basis that £4 is a small insurance to pay against the likelihood of getting lost or otherwise having to go into a city centre - Bordeaux is likely to join Paris and Grenoble shortly and it is not yet clear whether the ring roads round these cities will be included in the zones. You would think not given the volume of European HGV traffic they take, but this is France so anything is possible.
The application process is a bit tedious particularly getting the V5C document down to the maximum upload size allowed.

Could be a very expensive hloliday

The main thing is that as of next month (I think) the French authorities have access to DVLA records and can thus send you a speeding ticket - which accumulates UK points - through the post. It is reported that you will get a fine for even 1Kph over the limit, and 1-10Kph over is 90€.

I haven't yet got to the item in the ST but take it with a pinch of salt. The ST is not known for its technical prowess - you only have to read the 'Don't Panic' and motoring letters sections to see that!

 

[Thingy]

I and one or two others on the forum applied for the clean air certificate almost as soon as it was announced. The best advice I can give is apply early as we all suffered the same delays and it was weeks. I dread to think how one would go on if the need to go to one of the clean air cities arose suddenly.

As for the upload, I scanned each page and then stitched them together, using photoshop to reduce the file size.

 

[raycopper]

I applied for both the French & German clean air stickers two weeks ago. German one was delivered after 3 days, the French one 4.

 

[chrisn7]

I applied for the sticker and it arrived within a week or so. I scanned the V5, and did a Save as to My Pictures. Right click the image and select Properties will tell you its current size. Open 'Paint' then your new image, then the Home tab and 'Re size'. Change one of the % values from 100 to say 25, save as above and recheck the size. May have to do this a couple of times to meet the limit.
Probably better ways, but it worked for me..

 

[DavenGill1]

Help please, we are trying to upload our V5, do they require all 4 pages as we cannot find any information asking as to how many of the pages have to be uploaded. Many thanks

 

[alan29]

Page 2, the page with all the details on.