Speeding Ticket in France
 

I received by mail to my home in Georgia (USA), a speeding ticket from Paris. I am sure the letter is official, and not a scam, as it appears very official as does its referenced website. The problem is this: I have never been to France and don't even have a passport. Also, I do not know how to ride a motorcycle. (the speeder was on a kawasaki). I am left wondering if someone used a driver's license I lost in Florida earlier this year to rent a motorcycle in Paris. Any advice on how to proceed?

They have obviously given you contact information to respond/pay the ticket. I would respond to them with this information (no passport, never in France and a copy of the police report showing that your license had been stolen) and send it along.

I'm sure someone there will be able to sort it out,

What nytraveler said.

The sooner and the firmer you nip this in the bud, the better, before it gets gnarly.

If you didn't have your DL stolen, just lost it, and replaced it without going to the cops, then I suggest this:

Write a formal letter as suggested above, and take it to your bank or someplace to have it notarized. All that does is officially confirm that you are the person who wrote and signed that letter, but, being a document with an official seal and stamp, it just may make that much more of an impression at the other end to swing things your way. It can't hurt and it's easy to do.

Also: It is hard to prove a negative, as in "I was never in France". Do you have any way to prove where you were on the date of the ticket issue? Anything official that you can document and notarize? Even if you have to ask somebody to write a letter on your behalf, like your boss saying you were at work, and have that notarized, again to make it look as impressive as possible?

Good luck with this!

Just the mere fact that you do not have a passport should put an end to the whole episode. The ticket came through the rental agency (kawasaki up say), which, it would seem, did not review the driver's license and the credit card. That's difficult to understand because by law they have to match. There is also a little more to renting a motorcycle than renting a car (the proper license endorsement, insurance, helmet, etc). Overall, this seems a bit fishy! Or am I wrong?

Well, Robert...it does seem fishy, but I am sure the letter is legit. Therefore, I must ask, "How did these officials get my name and address?"

Gordon7, just because I'm curious, as a new poster, how did you find Fodor's to ask the question about the fine?

"...driver's license and the credit card. That's difficult to understand because by law they have to match...."

Not in my experience, someone else can pay for the rental as long as the transaction goes through and the rental itself is issued in the name of the person presenting the DL. What law are we talking about?

Interesting situation, but it should be easy to clear up.

@cathies.... I did a Google search for "speeding ticket from France" and it led me to this forum. Someone else posted some time ago about a ticket notice he/she got that seemed fishy to them.

michelhuebeli - I take it you do this quite often.

It doesn't matter who pays for the rental (most Americans prepay) but I have yet been able to pick up the rental car without handing them my credit card and driver's license, which must match.

In car rentals, I don't know of a single company that will accept to rent to someone other than "same name on licence and credit card" although a different name can be added as "additional driver." However, I know absolutely nothing about how motorcycle rentals are handled.

Thanks gordon7, hopefully you've received some useful advice.

In fact, one person can for the car rental and another be the primary driver. We had to do this in Belgium when we rented a Mercedes. When we got there the agent said that for that car they could only take an AmEx card and my B didn't have one. So i paid for the rental - with him the primary driver (as we had reserved) and me as the secondary driver.

So his license matched him and the reservation - and my license matched me and my credit card - not sure what they would have done if I hadn;t already been listed as a secondary driver.

Well, I do know that Europcar, Hertz and Avis in France will not accept this, so good for you in Belgium. Anyway, since the subject is motorcycle rental, I doubt that there are any big companies that do that, so they are probably a lot more flexible than car rentals.

Echoing what michelhuebeli said:

30 years ago, my boss sent me to Belgium to close a warehouse facility. Part of the legalities attendant to that process included having an official come to witness the signing (as a notary would do), which was then finalized by lighting a candle, holding it to a piece of red wax about the size of a large Tootsie Roll, and dripping the meltings on the document in a certain fashion. The signed documents would not have been legal without the wax. All this was done with great flair, pomp, and circumstance.

My point is that, assuming things haven't changed THAT much, the authorities in France would be apt to be more impressed by your attestation having a notary seal than I would.

Actually in France electronic signatures are now fine on most documents. I have not seen a wax seal on anything in more than 40 years except in the movies.

Whew!!!

"I have not seen a wax seal on anything in more than 40 years except in the movies."

Don't go to the moviez, go to the nearest Post Office, they are still in use and still common ! (click on "conditions spécifiques de vente"
http://www.laposte.fr/Entreprise/Rec...3%A9e&x=10&y=7

Yes, it says that it is still accepted, not that people actually still do it. Any security seal will do, and in the 21st century, there are plenty of other security seals that are preferred without pulling out a stick of wax, a lighter and an engraved stamp. You probably don't have to sign with a quill and a pot of ink either.