Fined in France banned in the UK
The EU is pondering legislation for cross border driving bans
Lucy England
Apparently the European parliament is thinking about bringing in new legislation which says that countries which issue driving licences, should enforce driving bans from other EU countries. In other words if you get a driving conviction in one EU country, then it will be enforced in other countries you might travel to, anywhere in Europe.
Currently traffic offences, unlike major crimes, are only visible in the countries in which they happened, and don't carry across borders, but this would mean all change on that.
Slow Down!
Quite often it seems that, although we are not part of the EU any more, things like traffic legislation still have a habit of drifting across the channel so we may find ourselves part of this plan eventually should it come in. So if you find yourself going a little fast in France say, you may discover that your ticket has crossed the channel with you. However some EU speeding offences don't give you points on your licence as they do here, perhaps encouraging a bit of a Europe speed free for all for drivers from the UK.
The BMF says that disqualifications which are under three months in length, or which have nearly expired, with only a month left to run, will not be counted if this does come in.
There are many variables and possibilities though – it is firstly not a done deal and it may not come in at all in Europe and then, if it does, will the UK adopt it as well? Who can say? If it did come in, it would let the UK government know if someone was entering the country with traffic offences on their licence which might be a good thing overall. What do you think, good thing or not? Let us know on Facebook or email: [email protected]
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