I'm building up courage to call the douane but thought I'd check here first.
Thank you as always
My son is due to drive over from the UK to visit on Wednesday and has elected to book a ferry rather than the tunnel meaning that he won't reach the border until after midnight . Does anyone know if there is a vending machine selling autoroute vignettes at the douane near Vallorbe (crossing the Jura)? Or from a large 24h service station along the road between there and Lausanne? That's assuming you can still buy them from garages in August....
Is it a manned border crossing? Can he not buy it at the border?
It's a bit late now, but maybe this helps someone else, the vignette can be bought here and sent to the person by post.
Don't think there is a vending machine- he can drive to you and get one the next day, surely. If he is stopped, and that is 1 chance in a million - he can just explain there was no-one to sell at the Ballaigues border.
Vallorbe/Le Creux is manned 8:00 to 22:00.
http://www.pwebapps.ezv.admin.ch/app...?id=262&lang=1
(Contact them if there is a vending machine)
The shop at the Shell at Restoroute de Bavois is open 5:00 to 23:00
https://find.shell.com/ch/fuel/10023...ois-jura/de_AT
Properly a bit too late, but the Switzerland Travel Centre in London sells them.
Most 24 hr service stations sells them closer to Swiss border. They are manned all the time. Some of them are even sign posted along the motorways.
Just been through that border, stopped and asked. No. not manned after 11pm and no vending machine. The officer told me you could only buy at petrol station, like the one in Bavois. She also said you could proceed to the address and explain if stopped, but the chances were VERY low- but she was not allowed to tell me that.
It's an excuse that will not be accepted. It is a 1 in a Million chance of being stopped, but if he is, he'll be fined and made to buy the vignette on the spot from the traffic police.
I think the chances of finding a place open after midnight that sells them on the route from Creux to Lausanne are close to none.
The chances of any police being around to notice are the same.
I would just take the risk to drive to Lausanne and buy one the next day. If really paranoid one could drive along the "route cantonale 9" (via Vallorbe/la Sarraz) instead of the motorway (the sticker is only required on motorways), but this would add about 15mins more to the drive, and it is a fairly winded road and not the most pleasant thing to do at the end of a very long drive in the middle of the night
In the end, if caught and they do not accept the excuse it is "just" a CHF 200 fine. No further consequences.
24h manned is Boncourt and both autobahn crossings in Basel.
However that stretch of motorway has speed cameras on it so I’d say very likely that they might pick up having no vignette.
Vetcomp all I can suggest is he get an earlier ferry. We catch the 7.40am out of Dover to Calais and get home here around 7.30-8pm using that route. What time is his ferry?
The speed cameras don't check vignettes.
I’m sure Petrol/Gas stations on the french side will sell them.
Speed cameras don’t check for vignettes.
He might be able to get one at a petrol station in France before he reaches the border.
+1. AFAIK there are no legally valid methods to electronically check the vignette on a car - whether by speed camera, traffic camera or otherwise - and the "electronic vignette" doesn't exist yet. Only a human policeman can check it.
The BP petrol station shop 1-200m after the border opens at 5:30am. If he rested for a few hours he could buy the vignette there in the early morning, it's not a good idea to drive for too long anyway.
Thank you, this is very useful. The problem is that many petrol stations are un manned after midnight. He needs to get an earlier ferry or go via the Bardonnex douane near Geneva.......
Buy one and post it to him...
It would be a miracle if it arrived before he leaves on Wednesday.
No time......it's been a complicated few weeks so no opportunity before now either. In an organised and smooth running life, that would definitely be the thing to do though