Why are Britons getting rushing tickets from France? ‘Mystery’ over fines with no settlement in place

France is continuing to send motoring fines, in particular speeding tickets, to UK motorists despite there being no explanation as to how authorities are getting hold of drivers’ addresses in Britain.

French outlet The Connexion has flagged that a ‘mystery’ remains on how UK motorists are continuing to receive fines after a data-sharing agreement between the two countries ended in recent years.

Since Brexit, there hasn’t been an information sharing agreement between France and UK.

And yet, records show a rise in the number of fines sent to British drivers between 2022 and 2023.

The 2023 road traffic violations annual report from The French Road Safety Observatory (ONISR) shows that last year 62,780 fines were sent to drivers in the UK – an increase of 5 per cent from 59,836 issued in 2022.

French outlet The Connexion has flagged that a ‘mystery’ remains on how UK addresses are continuing to receive fines, even though the data-sharing agreement between the two countries ended with Brexit

It’s likely that in many cases fines are passed along by rental firms who have the address details of the driver at the wheel of a rental car that’s snapped.

But in other cases it is British drivers in UK-registered cars who get a surprise fine on their doorstep. 

‘Partner countries’ (of which there are 20) including Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands – the worst offenders – had fines in the hundreds of thousands, yet Britain was the highest ‘pays non partenaires’ (non-partner country) listed.

Compared to the other two non-partner countries listed, Bulgaria and Greece, the UK fines were huge.

Fines received in Bulgaria and Greece were just 5,853 and 2,920 respectively.

With its partner countries, France exchanges vehicle registration data, including postal addresses, of vehicles caught on camera committing offences.

Yet as The Connexion points out, the UK released itself as a partner nation in 2021 when Brexit discontinued the EU agreement.

The 2023 Road traffic violations annual report from The French Road Safety Observatory (ONISR) shows that last year 62,780 fines were sent to the UK – a rise from 59,836 in 2022

Drivers complaining about receiving speeding fines from France via online forums is a mix of motorists who were at the wheel of French rental cars and those using their own UK-registered vehicles on the other side of the Channel

A spokesman for France’s Sécurité Routière department confirmed to The Connexion that the UK is no longer a partner and said ‘there is therefore no exchange of information with this country’ but didn’t clarify how fines are sent to UK private addresses.

The ONISR report states that ‘the part played by the municipal police in controlling motoring law rules – not including parking – via the use of the PVe [‘electronic’ fines] is now very significant.’

The PVe records the offence digitally and sends the fine to the registered owner’s home and is replacing physical tickets.

One The Connexion reader told the paper that her husband got ‘two speeding fines travelling to the Saint-Malo port and back’.

‘The fines came to our UK address, which came as a shock. We paid them, but we were under the impression that there was no agreement and DVLA should not have given them our address.’

Online forums show a mix of drivers receiving speeding fines issued when driving both French rental cars and their own UK-registered vehicles on the other side of the Channel. 

With its partner countries France exchanges vehicle registration data, including postal addresses, of vehicles caught on camera committing offence, but the UK isn’t a ‘partner country’

Five EU countries have accused Transport for London (TfL) of illegally obtaining the names and addresses of European drivers to issue low emission and ultra-low emission fines in the capital 

On the flip side, five EU countries have accused Transport for London (TfL) of illegally obtaining the names and addresses of European drivers to issue low emission and ultra-low emission fines in the capital.

Reported by The Guardian at the start of the year, TfL issued more than 320,000 penalties since 2021.

There is no information-sharing agreement in place (as already mentioned with French-issuing speeding fines) but there was a data agreement in place pre-Brexit for driving offences. This did not though cover pollution charges.

European governments described it as ‘possibly one of the largest data breaches in EU history’.

TfL told the Guardian that ‘local laws’ allowed authorities to share vehicle owner information with the UK for the enforcement of traffic regulations.

EU countries argue that national laws allow the UK to access personal data only for criminal offences, not civil ones – which ULEZ falls under.

This is Money has contacted the Sécurité Routière for comment.