Author Topic: UK car driven in France  (Read 2643 times)

embee

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Re: UK car driven in France
« Reply #15 on: June 29, 2022, 02:53:40 PM »
Just got back from France.
I think the official national speed limit on single carraigeways is 80kph, and if it is raised it will show 90kph signs. That's what appears to be the practice anyway, my Garmin satnav was generally correct but there are a lot of 70kph stretches dotted around which are not correct on the satnav, so you do need to take a lot of notice of the signs. Many towns and villages have a lot of 30kph (yes, that's under 20mph) zones.
Remember on roads with 3 lanes, 2 one way and 1 the other such as in hilly areas for overtaking slow vehicles, the limit on the 1 lane side is 80kph and on the 2 lane side it is 90kph. It does work OK.
Got back to Portsmouth last night, M27 closed westbound, works on the M3/A3, works on the A34. Welcome back to the UK.
Funniest thing was when coming back to UK the young lady in the French passport control asked me when I'd arrived in France, there was no entering stamp in my passport. I said the date and shrugged, a classic use of the gallic shrug I thought, what did she expect me to do about it. She looked at it, stamped it with the exit date, shrugged and wished me a good journey. Hopefully there is some other sort of record of when I arrived there, otherwise the 90/180 day thing could potentially be in question. We shall see.
Great now isn't it? (not).
Get a CritAir, it's simple and cheap and you've got it. Carry hi-vis IN the car cabin. Have "some" spare bulbs, it'll do. Spare specs if you wear them. All the usual stuff.
..... and take your good humour with you, it's very helpful at times.

Jazzik

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Re: UK car driven in France
« Reply #16 on: June 29, 2022, 03:18:07 PM »
..... and take your good humour with you, it's very helpful at times.

...as it is in the UK, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Germany, Belgium, Holland and not to forget here in Poland, just to mention a few countries...! In fact everywhere!  :D
If nothing goes right, go left!

Kremmen

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Re: UK car driven in France
« Reply #17 on: June 29, 2022, 03:43:00 PM »
I'd be a danger driving on the right. Never been abroad so I'd exit junctions and roundabouts, etc, and just drift to the wrong side.

Much like what I've seen rental cars do at Heathrow.
Let's be careful out there !

sportse

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UK car driven in France
« Reply #18 on: June 29, 2022, 03:55:47 PM »
It’s easier if you are in a hire car that has the steering wheel on the right side for the country you are visiting. I’ve driven quite a bit in Spain/USA and haven’t had any issues.

I saw a European car in the UK last week - they drove on the wrong side of the road, the wrong way around a traffic island and proceeded to drive the wrong side of the road afterwards.

No excuse as it was in a port town and the traffic islands even usually have big arrows pointing which side you are supposed to drive on.
« Last Edit: June 29, 2022, 04:12:40 PM by sportse »

BigT

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Re: UK car driven in France
« Reply #19 on: June 29, 2022, 07:09:59 PM »
Just got back from France.
I think the official national speed limit on single carraigeways is 80kph, and if it is raised it will show 90kph signs. That's what appears to be the practice anyway, my Garmin satnav was generally correct but there are a lot of 70kph stretches dotted around which are not correct on the satnav, so you do need to take a lot of notice of the signs. Many towns and villages have a lot of 30kph (yes, that's under 20mph) zones.
Remember on roads with 3 lanes, 2 one way and 1 the other such as in hilly areas for overtaking slow vehicles, the limit on the 1 lane side is 80kph and on the 2 lane side it is 90kph. It does work OK.
Got back to Portsmouth last night, M27 closed westbound, works on the M3/A3, works on the A34. Welcome back to the UK.
Funniest thing was when coming back to UK the young lady in the French passport control asked me when I'd arrived in France, there was no entering stamp in my passport. I said the date and shrugged, a classic use of the gallic shrug I thought, what did she expect me to do about it. She looked at it, stamped it with the exit date, shrugged and wished me a good journey. Hopefully there is some other sort of record of when I arrived there, otherwise the 90/180 day thing could potentially be in question. We shall see.
Great now isn't it? (not).
Get a CritAir, it's simple and cheap and you've got it. Carry hi-vis IN the car cabin. Have "some" spare bulbs, it'll do. Spare specs if you wear them. All the usual stuff.
..... and take your good humour with you, it's very helpful at times.

I live partly in Austria and partly in UK, driving regularly across Europe from Vienna to the Eurotunnel and beyond in one day. The road works on the German autobahn make the UK look possibly utopian. Some go on for 20 kms and more at 45 Mph (80 Kmh). i'll be doing the trip again shortly by my motorcycle, then driving our RHD Jazz back to Vienna. Don't ask why.....

You should be concerned about your passport stamp, if you get a jobs worth check your passport next time through Europe, you may need to answer some questions. I suggest you keep all the evidence of your journey with the missing stamp and travel with it next time, just in case. I have an EU residents card and even with it sometimes have to stand up to the border guards, especially in France who want to stamp everything British. I even carry a copy of the residents regulation in French. Belt and braces I know but the French can be an utter, utter pain in the derriere. Generally I avoid France if at all possible, not least because of the expensive tolls on motorways. All that said I enjoyed your post. Take care out there, Tony.

embee

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Re: UK car driven in France
« Reply #20 on: June 30, 2022, 06:15:24 PM »
...You should be concerned about your passport stamp, if you get a jobs worth check your passport next time through Europe, you may need to answer some questions. I suggest you keep all the evidence of your journey with the missing stamp and travel with it next time, just in case. ....
I do take that point, and will certainly check that the stamps are done next trip for sure. Fortunately I'd just been over to France just 4 weeks previously with the correct in/out stamps, so the longest I could possibly have been there was 6 weeks in total, and I won't be adding up to 90 days this year anyway even with my next trip in Sept, so the time period won't be an issue. I guess a jobsworth could make an issue of having a missing entry stamp in future, but there's nothing I could do about it so I'll have to cross that bridge if I come to it. Fair point about having records of the trip though.

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