Driving in France: Crit'Air sticker

Participant · 17 Nov 2018 at 10:20

Apparently these are now required when driving in France to show your vehicle's emissions, with fines for not having one.

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/law-change-for-uk-drivers-in-french-cities

Is dull but by the sounds of it, necessary to avoid hassle at borders / cities / when driving around.

The only bit I don't get is that it says some old vehicles don't require a sticker because they're too dirty to qualify. In this case they just can't drive in certain areas, but does that mean motorists that aren't going to these areas don't need to bother? Or will they still potentially get fined even if they're not in a Crit'Air zone?

For ~EUR4 it's a case of just doing it I guess.

[TW]Fox · 17 Nov 2018 at 11:23

How annoying that they don't accept the German ones. So that's now two huge stickers you'd need?

mattcrane · 17 Nov 2018 at 13:01

Only needed if you are visiting the cities that it applies to.

andicole0 · 17 Nov 2018 at 13:05

[TW]Fox said:
How annoying that they don't accept the German ones. So that's now two huge stickers you'd need?

Could do with some sort of common european set of rules
Andi.

mjt · 17 Nov 2018 at 13:39

[TW]Fox said:
How annoying that they don't accept the German ones. So that's now two huge stickers you'd need?

Crit'air ones are tiny though. However, they must be purchased online in advance, which I discovered the day before I went to France.
At least with the German ones, you can just pop into the local TÜV once you've driven past a sign telling you you need one

adam cool dude · 17 Nov 2018 at 13:48

What happened to the freedom of going anywhere? I guess if you are visiting it is hard for them to enforce unless you are caught by the plod.

geekman · 17 Nov 2018 at 17:46

I suspect that like many French traffic laws, this isn’t really going to be enforced for U.K. reg cars. I ignored it last time I drove in Paris with no issues and I also know several people who drive there regularly in foreign reg cars and have never had any issues.

Participant · 17 Nov 2018 at 18:33

mattcrane said:
Only needed if you are visiting the cities that it applies to.

One of which is (or will be by the end of this year) Rouen, a classic Brit thoroughfare for S. France. Also the RAC article implies that you could be fined for not having one anywhere.

Anyway I've ordered one online now. You have to scan your V5C. Suppose someone has to keep French civil servants in business.

Havana_UK · 18 Nov 2018 at 11:19

andicole0 said:
Could do with some sort of common european set of rules
Andi.

Beat me to it!

Beansprout · 19 Nov 2018 at 14:11

That big road through Paris is horrible in its underground bits - the Peripherique - don't see how stickers will help. They drop the speed limits which I guess is sensible but they should in fact triple the speed limit and charge 100 euros to use it

Admittedly I've only recently driven through the affected areas a couple of times but I've never bought one of these stickers and I've also not had a GB sticker for any of my trips this year except the first one, where I actually forgot to put it on so just put the thing on the parcel shelf in its packaging.

And yes I have been done for speeding and after relieving me of 30 Euros the very pleasant cops sent me on my way no further questions asked. 94 in a 70 and the blighters had setup a camera pointed at a downhill part, oops.