I know of a courier driver relieved of all his cash in Marseille by a ‘gendarme’ no paperwork was involved other than the cash handed over about £1200.
I suppose anyone who did receive a French speeding ticket might have to resist the urge to post the response off to them in a French letter (even if they paid it).
Think my worst one was en route to lemans on a toll road. 8-900 euro from memory. Was lucky not to be dropping the soap as I was moving a bit. Pretty much flat in 5th at the time they pinged me
strange when they are speaking french but really nice helpful people that is a refreshing change from my experience of France only my experience admittedly
We were driven round all the ATM's in Bar Sur Aube by a Gendarme and we each had to cough up 750Euros each. The Gendarme was a nice old guy. We made his day probably as it was him who clocked us. He was ever so polite and professional.
I dont want count my poulets too early, but I might have gone past two separate cameras last year “slightly” over the recommended speed. Nothing. And I know they are slow to catch up here but after six months...should be fine. Maybe they were firing blanks at the time.
Allow me to seriously doubt that. See, France is not Africa, and Gendarmes are military folks. Two very good reasons for them to be « square », IMHO.
My version is more fun though, I can imagine the Gendarme toasting the health of his benefactors . Talking of Africa a now deceased work colleague was relieved of 4 new shirts when he arrived in an African country by customs, he was most upset as he bought them specifically for said holiday never worn.
I was flying into a fairly small airport in Egypt about 18 years back which was military controlled from what I could see at the time. The two lads on security both had military uniforms and guns. My mate had FHM and Loaded in his hand luggage which they searched. The first lad grinned, called the other lad over, who also grinned. "Confiscated" they said laughing away to themselves. I was having a good chuckle also, til my mate decided to take the hump. He had a great big row until I stepped in and told him to cop the fuck on. The two lads were clearly delighted with their booty. Anyhow, we got to the quite lovely (seriously) hotel, and the first thing my pal did was reach into the same rucksack and pull out a bag of weed. I expressed my utter incredulity that he started a row over two lads mags with two armed soldiers in a Muslim country whilst having a bag of weed in the same bag, whilst we had a smoke on the balcony.
Indeed. I checked into a hotel just outside Nantes, cold so wanted to pull into the first warm hotel I could find. This one was completely full of Gendarmes - they had one small room available so I took it gladly. There were Gendarmes and me. That evening I went to the restaurant and it was packed with uniformed Gendarmes - a few not in uniform - but essentially a huge room full of them in uniform. To this day I have never seen such a large collection of French people eating dinner without drinking wine. There was no wine on the tables at all. I think there was a protest and these guys were brought in from other areas to help.
Anti-riot Squad. Probably when our government decided to get rid of Notre Dame des Landes airport project protesters, a couple years ago (spring 2018?). There was proper guerilla warfare involved during that episode... Here are the protesters they were sent for: Here are the guys you had diner with: Rough job for rough lads... Now that everything they do is reported in real time on live news networks, wine for diner with your mates while in service is no longer an option... On this matter, the military has drastically evolved in the past 25 years.
