Was travelling to a customer just south of Brussels this week in ye olde Golf TDI and was stopped by ye olde Belgium police for breaking said speed law of 120KPH(thought it was 130!). They said i was doing 157KPH and would have to pay 275 of the said Euros !! -even escorted me to the nearest ATM to get some cash !

The region was Gent and there was a parked car with a camera in the boot !! Not that I saw!

Be careful if you are in this area...

Steve.

 

I wonder what the fine would have been for getting a hire Opel Astra to 200?
Damn those rental cars got some power!

 

Yep, a mate has just got back from biking around europe and said that Belgium was the worst place for police 'interest'

 

4 guys from my company have beem hit in that area . We were installing machinery in Ghent.. They seem to target brits ... or so it appears.. So take care !

Scott

Visit ScoobyCity

 

Yeah, as a Belgian you can pay your penalty a few months later.
But as a foreigner, you have to cough it up immediately...

But don't worry, your money will be well spent on more 'road safety' !

The last couple of years, there have been a number of tax reductions promised by our politicians (e.g. TV license has been abolished) but, coincidentally, the same politicians have steadily been raising the number of (un)manned cameras, higher fines, etc. And now they are even considering lowering the max.speed from 90 kph to 70 kph on secondary roads.

All a bit too suspicious to me...

 

The French, Belgians and Dutch all target tourists. They get the money straight away, (no chasing it up months later), and they know that holidaymakers will be carrying money. Sounds like legalised highway robbery to me!
Source: "Le Monde" when I was in France.

 

Urban myth N° 2455...

You may have to pay on the spot... we have the pleasure of (at that speed) turning over our drivers licence on the spot ("call a taxi"), for at least 14 days, with the possibility of not getting it returned for a few months...

Next to that, we do indeed have the pleasure to appear before a police court with fines upto 1.5K UKP

Belgium being Belgium, the governement seems to have caught up on the "speed kills" tantrum and are now actively trying to nick speeders

The spot checks around Ghent are announced ahead of time on the Belgian police site BTW.

 

Dont u guys already pay enough road tax !!!

I heard it is scaled on the size of engine.. Colleague had a 4ltr Lexus over there and had to register it with Belgian plates due to residing in Belgium and almost had to take a bank loan to pay for the tax !!!.. (OUCH)....

I agree if they catch u @ nearly 160k (close to 100mph) then a fine is what u expect ...Unfortunately....

Scott

Visit Scoobycity

 

..we were under close scrutiny of the Belgian Plod on the way back from the Easter Ring trip...just ask MRK

 

The best defence is to tow a caravan!:
Alcazar

 

LOL, just seen a rally program...

Driver Larry Cols was caught speeding (at a mindwhopping 50 MPH) during a rally in Flanders (off stage), and had to turn in his drivers licence Which made it illegal for him to finish the rally. Hence co-pilot taking the steering wheel ...

Gotta love this country

 

ROTFLMAO at Evil's comments. And I thought our Police could be over zealous.

Damn......thats funny.

P. (Was very lucky then a couple of years back!)

 

One interesting point talking to the copper that took my money. I asked him about the legality of radar detectors(I know it's illegal in France) and he said they were o.k in Belgium ? My Bel device was well stowed away as I thought they made you drive over them if caught with it! Well in France anyway.

Steve.

 

Nope. Not in the last 40 years I've lived here.

In Holland they are still OK-ish. (lots of pressure to get them banned)

If you don't believe me: try to find a single shop (legal ones I mean) in Belgium that sells radar detectors.

As for tax... (missed that): the worst tax is the one you pay when "registering" your vehicle.

An Impreza (and all cars above 211 BHP) costs you 3K UKP in taxes just to "register" it. Sell it tomorrow, and the new happy owner pays... 3K UKP in taxes again... it goes down each year, but you still have to pay 1.5K UKP for a 4 year old car

This tax was introduced when they lowered "luxury VAT" of 33% to 21 %.

So we tend to see a less lively 2nd hand performance car market

Edited to say: registering is the same thing as notifying the DVLA
Also: that's the reason why Belgian cars are cheap for the UK market.
BTW: when I bought my Impreza, Subaru Japan payed half (1.5 UKP) of that tax, as the MY98 model just came below that limit and only (well... only) cost 1.5K UKP to register it...

[Edited by EvilBevel - 9/15/2002 6:33:12 PM]

 

There was an article in the Sunday Mail today warning motorists of exactly the same thing in France!
There are camera cars parked on the side of the road and if they catch you driving at as little as 5mph above the speed limit they stop you!!
Also read that if you can't pay they impound your car until you can.
Always a pleasure (not)

 

As far as I'm concerned, they can bring back the luxury VAT,
the 'DIV taks' kept me off from buying a WRX.

 

dont pay no visa

If this doesnt work, if they say $275 tell them u only have $150 i know this does work

cya later

simon

 

Also beware in France.Went to the French GP in July,got pulled over for doing 160kph in a 90kph zone.135Euro on the spot cash but also confiscated my licence for being 40kph over!Luckily did'nt ask to see my mates licence[he did'nt have one] otherwise we would have been stranded!He drove,illegaly, away from the Plod and out of sight we swopped back.

They have still got my licence 2 months on.

 

Spose I'd better be more carefull then as I usually cane it through Belgium, the Autobahn from Luxembourg to Brussels going past the space centre, was racing a treved up BMW at over 240KMH, never seena cop on this road though unless they just can't keep up that is

 

Well suppose I was lucky they didn't get me on the way back from the French Grand Prix, or even more importantly opn my dash from Dieppe to Calais following the cancellation of the Seacat!

Coming back from Le Mans the speeds were extremely illegal, I was driving in convoy with a friend in a Porsche, he got ahead and called me on the mobile to say the road was clear to overtake. The artic driver wasn't terribly impressed when I went flying past him on a blind bend!