Skip to main content

EU rules in favour of two drivers in France in photo enforcement cases

The EU Human Rights Court has ruled in favour of two drivers who received traffic tickets from French authorities, but were not provided the means to contest them. Both men paid the fine required and one lost a point off his driver's permit. Both called for the reimbursement of the fine.
March 19, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
The 1116 European Union Court of Human Rights has ruled in favour of two drivers who received traffic tickets from French authorities, but were not provided the means to contest them. Both men paid the fine required and one lost a point off his driver's permit. Both called for the reimbursement of the fine.

The EU court did not order that the fine or the point be reimbursed claiming that it was not competent in the matter of French driving law and that it could only review the fine reimbursement if the two drivers had been allowed access to judicial proceedings.

One driver claimed that he could not recognise himself as the driver of the vehicle without photographic evidence. The other said that he was not driving the vehicle during the infraction. An officer in the case threw out their demands and called for the fine to be paid.

In its defence, according to the French constitutional council, the lack of access to judicial recourse is not constitutional.

The EU court has also ruled that the officer exceeded his authority in demanding the fine.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Tunnel Boom in Central and Eastern Europe
    September 15, 2015
    Following the success of the 41st World Tunnel Congress held in Croatia last May, World Highways looks at two signi_ cant projects in Slovakia and Serbia – Adriana Potts reports Central and Eastern Europe is buzzing with a number of major projects being developed - including highways, bridges and tunnels – and with many more in the pipeline. The region is expected to be highly active with plans for developing infrastructure in the next two decades, according to Davorin Koli , president of the Croatian
  • Finland reverses its plan to impose user-pay roads
    January 24, 2017
    The Finnish government has axed controversial plans to privatise the operation of a large number of major roads and turn them into user-pay infrastructure. But transport Minister Anne Berner also announced that the government would now keep a tax on new car sales. The tax was going to be scrapped as part of the move to make road users pay tolls. Berner had recently announced that the government would put the operation of major highways under a new stand-alone agency that would engage the private secto
  • Tunnel construction benefits from improved visibility
    November 14, 2012
    Major new tunnel construction projects will, on completion, help secure more reliable journey times for hundreds of thousands of people across the world. Meanwhile, as Guy Woodford reports, leading ITS solution companies have been providing vital equipment for major road tunnels The Martina Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), a 4,500tonne Herrenknecht Earth Pressure Balance Shield said to have a world record diameter of 15.55m, has required just under a year to build the first of two tunnel tubes for the 2.5km lon
  • Under control
    February 24, 2012
    Chinese police were surprised to discover that a driver they stopped during a routine check had no arms. The man was steering the vehicle with his feet and explained that he had been doing so for many years. He said that ever since he lost both arms below the elbows in an industrial accident, he had used his feet to steer his vehicle without difficulty. The man was stunned when police officers issued him with a public safety summons and claimed that he was a safe driver, despite his disability. The driver s