Latest French rip-off

[amateur]

France has introduced 'clean air' windscreen stickers, as a legal requirement in some of its major cities, to identify a vehicle’s emissions levels.
British drivers heading to the France capital are advised that driving without a France 'clean air' sticker, called a Crit'Air vignette – which costs as little as £3.20 – makes them culpable for an on-the-spot fine of up to £117.

The English language section of the government website responsible for stickers is:

https://www.certificat-air.gouv.fr/en/

 

The French clean air stickers - called Crit'Air vignettes - are part of a six-category sticker system that applies to all motor vehicles in certain areas to identify what emissions they produce.

The six categories have six colours that denote how heavily polluting the vehicle is according to its Euro emissions standard, ranging from green (Crit’Air 1, electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles) for the cleanest, to black (Crit’Air 6 mostly older, diesel cars) for the dirtiest.

The vignette, or sticker system has been introduced to reduce the emissions output in larger cities, so on days where certain cities are at risk of reaching their Euro emissions limit, heavily polluting vehicles can be refused entrance based on the Crit’Air sticker they are displaying on the windscreen.

The stickers are currently in use in Paris, Lyon and Grenoble.

The Crit’Air initiatives applies to all cars, motorbikes and lorries and affects both French residents and foreign drivers - although if you have a particularly old car that does not conform to any emissions standards, you won't be eligible for a vignette and you won't be permitted to drive your vehicle during those times when restrictions are imposed.

It is also worth noting that the Crit'Air scheme also applies to disabled vehicle owners.


Prices for stickers for foreign-registered vehicles have been set at €4.80 per vignette (as of 1 February 2017).

You can apply online for a sticker via the official Crit’Air website.

 

https://www.certificat-air.gouv.fr/en/

You will need to know your vehicle’s European Emissions Standard - you can Google it.

If your car doesn't meet any emissions standard, you can't apply for a vignette and you will not be permitted to drive when restrictions are in force.

You will also need to upload to the website an image or scan of your vehicle's V5C registration form/log book. This must be uploaded in JPEG, PNG or PDF format and the file size must be under 400KB. If the image you take of your document is too large, you may need to use an image editor to reduce it to under 400KB. Converting an image to PDF format can also help to reduce the file size.

From 31 March 2017, all eligible foreign-registered vehicles must display an appropriate sticker, or face a fine.

Important: There are non-official, third party websites selling Crit’Air vignettes for more than seven times more than the rate set by the French government – you should ensure that you only buy a sticker through the official Crit’Air website.

The ordering process can, in some cases, take up to six weeks to be delivered, however the web-site offers a printed out receipt which can be used before the vignette arrives.

 

What happens if I don't buy one?

Fines of between €68 and €135 (between £59 and £117) are in place and don't expect French police to be lenient in enforcing the new system as the introductory phase ended on 31st March 2017.

So if you are travelling to Paris, Lyon and Grenoble you need to make sure that you don’t get caught out by the Crit'Air scheme

The scheme requires vehicles to have an emissions sticker clearly visible on the windscreen. The penalty for not displaying one is an on-the-spot fine of between €68 and €135 (about £58 to £117), and of course, being French there is a very helpful training video showing you exactly where to place your vignette.



Apparantly around 1 in 10 French vehicles are too old to get a sticker – with certain older models not even assigned a category. These cars are not permitted to drive in Paris between 8am and 8pm, Monday to Friday.

Models registered before 1997, motorbikes and scooters from before June 2000, and trucks and buses from before 2001 are the main offenders in terms of emissions.

As many as 22 other French towns have signalled their interest in making a similar move over the next three years.

Edited May 15, 2017 by amateur

[7daysinaweek]

Good on you Amateur, might save someone a nasty surprise, wonder how long till the greedy beggars catch on over here? change of legislation to fill the coffers.

 

Spread da word!

 

atb

7diaw

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Oh from the title I thought it was going to be about Wymberly's new gun.

[Jaymo]

Good on you Amateur, might save someone a nasty surprise, wonder how long till the greedy beggars catch on over here? change of legislation to fill the coffers.

 

Spread da word!

 

atb

7diaw

It's nothing new- have we not had the Congestion Charge for a while now?

Italy has days when they won't allow commercial vehicles on the motorways and so on the French side of the border they have had to build large lorry parks and also carry out 'Operation Stack' type arrangements

[mossy835]

the uk will grab on to this.give it time

[wandringstar]

you can keep france

[mossy835]

you can keep france

 

 

+1

[welsh1]

Simple really , Don't go into their cities and spend your hard earned cash, and that applies to cities in the uk as well.

 

I always find that you get better food and decent plonk for a far better price out of the cities in the rural areas, with the bonus of stunning views.

[Walker570]

you can keep france

Plus 2

 

I have not forgot or forgiven for them attacking lorries of our lambs at French ports and setting some on fire. I always check labels.

Edited May 15, 2017 by Walker570

[amateur]

Well. despite the predictions that it could take up to 6 weeks to get the Crit-Air vignette, it turned up today.

 

so, at least now, if we fancy driving into Lyon on our annual trek south to the Cote d'Azur, we are legal