Speeding fines issued in France have reportedly ended up on UK doorsteps (Image: Getty)
Over 60,000 driving fines have been sent from officials to British motorists – despite the lack of a formal agreement since .
It is believed and other have landed on the doors of British motorists after trips across the continent.
, a French road statistics group, shows that a staggering 62,780 fines were sent to the UK in 2023.
The number of fines sent to UK drivers has increased over the past 12 months, with tickets up from 59,836 in 2022
France has a partnership agreement with 20 countries to share information around driving tickets.
The UK and France are no longer ‘partner countries’ (Image: Getty)
However, it is understood that the UK has not been a ‘partner country’ of France since 2021 as a result of .
The previous agreement was due to a previous EU directive that was axed after the UK left the .
One motorist was left baffled after receiving the penalty through their letterbox after a trip to Northern France.
They said: “Last year, my husband got two speeding fines travelling to the Saint-Malo port and back.
ONISR data shows thousands of tickets have been sent to the UK (Image: ONISR)
“The fines came to our UK address, which came as a shock. We paid them, but we were under the impression that there was no agreement and DVLA should not have given them our address.”
, officials at France’s Sécurité Routière department confirmed the UK was no longer a partner country.
They added that there was “no exchange of information with this country”.
The ONISR report made clear that the UK had not been a partner since January 1, 2021, which was the end of the transition period.
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The report stressed most of the fines were also sent to individuals based in Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.
The UK was not the only non-partnered country affected with motorists in Bulgaria and Greece also receiving fines. However, many of the tickets were likely not issued physically by officers with French enforcement teams now relying on digital technology to clampdown on rulebreakers.
ONISR stated that the use of the PVe [‘electronic’ fines] is now “very significant”. The sophisticated tools can pick up number plate details and automatically send letters to motorists’ homes.
The DVLA explained that the UK is party to a number of bilateral and multilateral treaties which permit the sharing of vehicle registration data for law enforcement or evidential purposes.
One mechanism for sharing information is mutual legal assistance (MLA), a method of cooperation between countries. The UK also has a specific agreement with Spain that covers the recognition and exchange of driving licences in both countries.
Express.co.uk has approached DVLA for comment.