does anyone know if this FCOS course has been translated in to English, and where i could get a copy?
lulu123:
does anyone know if this FCOS course has been translated in to English, and where i could get a copy?
I would find that highly unlikely in the extreme. 
Why on earth would the French want to go to all that trouble and what would be the point, the course itself is in French?
Google Translation
This is the nearest I’ve found so far to a translation. It’s a list of the people who need to do the FCOS etc. Typical computer translation but you can get the gist of it…
les-permis.com/procedures/po … htm#depart
List ,in French, of the “does and don’ts” of the FCOS.
Plambert:
Who governs this? I didn’t think there is anything like VOSA if France, although I did ‘spend’ some money last week with a nice man who was from a ministry - and he wasn’t a man of the cloth!Paul
Tut, I am shocked at you!!! Actually, they do have a similar thing to our VOSA as I have visited the one at Rennes, near the airport. Twas nothing to do with Police. A lad who works for a friend of mine got pulled past Rennes at that checkpoint. The one that is either side of the road. They hammered him for €2,500 so he locked the lorry up (fully loaded) and did a runner as this was the second time in a month he had been done for bent running. My friend phoned me and asked me to go over with him and rescue the load. We had to go to the Ministry and pay the fine. They showed us the tachos … 2 very norty ones. One which was missing 250 kms and the other was plain bloody stupid. He had pulled the fuse with the proper tacho in… so when he put it back in, he had the power surge line on it. They were very nice to my friend and even reduced the fine to €2k when they discovered what had happened with the driver. My friend still has the guys car in the yard lolol … well he did have until last week. He has blagged the V5 out of the guys wife ( who hasn’t seen him but thats another story) and has sold the guys car to a Pole who works for us and has assured us it will be in Poland very soon lol. The car is a left ■■■■■■ Yank pick up… one of them huge things
I have posted before about a major control near Lyon where there were Le Ministerie of Transports assisted by an exchange program of our own VOSA when it was known by another name.
I have seen BAG in France and Holland working with the local guys so dont be mistaken into thinking that you are safe in Euroland from Vosa equivalents. They share a lot of information and work together well.
The big difference in France is that you are likely to get stopped by the Miniistry, Customs or Police at any time of day or night
I dont think there is anything new in that, I remember at least 20 years ago being stopped in a controle south of Bordeaux on a Saturday night and there were 2 English Ministry there .
In reply to Lulu’s question about FIMO or whatever that is - no we dont. To drive here you just need your UK HGV licence (the plastic bit, nobody gives a ■■■■ about the paper part) and NIE Number (Numero Identificacion Extranajero) which you get at your local Policia Nacionale station - this is very simple and just registers you as an EU citizen, and also allows you to open a bank account and rent or buy property or vehicles etc…
You also need to be registered with the Seguridad Social (Social Security) a lot of the bigger firms will do this on your behalf when you start work. Obviously by paying in you are then entitled to free healthcare and after 12 months unemployment benefit. The “NHS” here is extremely good as well should you ever need it. As for speaking Spanish it obviously helps, but again many of firms have English speaking staff, and as in the UK good drivers are in short supply so they will give you a chance.
All I would say to anyone is try and get some practice in a left ■■■■■■ if you think of coming over here, it took me a while to get the hang of reversing sitting on the “wrong” side - and you sometimes find your road positioning is a little a peculiar to start with!
In response to a couple of the posts, I assume it is not the Ministrie De Control (AKA La VOSA) who control the licencing of operators but another Departmental organisation, mentioned?
Hi Plambert.
The licencing of operators in your region (Pays de la Loire) is handled by the DRE, Bureaux du services des Transports Routiers.
16 Rue Gaetan Rondeau.
44022 Nantes.
I couldn’t find a phone number for you.
Thanks Dave, will make contact with them and see what hoops they want me to jump through.
Regards