Automatic confiscation!

[(RIP) Shenzi]

Just been watching the news and a proposal is being put to the government for the automatic confiscation of your vehicle if you exceed the limit by 50kph! It can happen now but has to be signed off by a judge.
There are a few other reasons for confiscation being proposed...booze, lack of license etc but as it doesn't affect me I didn't take much notice. The 50kph thing does affect me occasionally.....bollox!

 

[Wapping]

A good heads up.

I guess that similar rules already apply in the UK, where the police can impound a vehicle for lack of insurance or if it is being used for 'illegal' purposes (that covers a multitude of sins) for instance. All this being done on the roadside at the officer's discretion. In some instances the vehicle is then scrapped if the owner does not come forward with suitable paperwork.

I assume that the arrest of a driver in the UK for some motoring offences would effectively impound the vehicle, too?

We clocked up about 800 miles over the weekend, mostly on rural D roads, south of Troyes and into the Morvan. I think we saw four police checks, one of which was definitely a spot breathalyser / radar trap. As usual, taking a bit of care through villages and towns / heeding the warning flashes of oncoming vehicles kept us from the police's attention.

There was also the now seemingly obligatory speed trap on the final motorway run into Calais.

Take care and don't take the piss too much is a pretty good rule, as it is is in most countries. The locals will not mind their police force nicking as many Brits as they like.