Some members refer to them as birth control devices,as in the "condoms"or "presertafifs"in French.That seems a bit racist,you would`nt say that to them as they pull you out the cab after an accident,before the "pompiers"arrive to cut you out.
Personally I have no time for the French Gendarmerie having been persecuted by them for many years. I don’t know what it is like now, but at one time it was impossible to drive down through France without getting a tug. They only stop the English.
tim williams:
Some members refer to them as birth control devices,as in the "condoms"or "presertafifs"in French.That seems a bit racist,you would`nt say that to them as they pull you out the cab after an accident,before the "pompiers"arrive to cut you out.
If the gendarmes can pull you out of the cab, why would the pompiers have to cut you out ?
Colonel:
Personally I have no time for the French Gendarmerie having been persecuted by them for many years. I don’t know what it is like now, but at one time it was impossible to drive down through France without getting a tug. They only stop the English.
they pull everyone whos not french.
its not an anti english thing.
Refering to my previous post " A First For France" all I can say is that last thursday when I was tugged by the Gendarmes and controlled by the French ministry, they were all extremely polite. They looked at cards for the previous 30 days and i left without paying a centime.
I am no great lover of the French, however there were French trucks as well as British, Spanish and German being controlled. Maybe their attitude has changed??
Maybe in the past, they only “pulled” as you put it, English trucks because they knew they might be, or probably were, doing something illegal. 
(tacho infringements, over the top on bachie allowance from Spain or Lux, and in the past, when there were rules on diesel, belly tanks ) Speak to the old school Euro drivers, they could tell you some good stories of what went on, and yes I pulled some stunts too. 
The amount of times I’ve run the gauntlet on a Saturday night/Sunday morning, either through St.Omer, or to the Belgian border near Valenciennes, to get to Calais. Saturday night the CB was alive trying to get info from drivers running south, to see if the Condoms were at St. Omer.
They were always situated at strategic places, i.e. peages and they also pull into the Motorway services to check on drivers too, probably still do These days they are more interested in the drivers from Eastern Europe.
See French Gendarmes pulling the Dutch a lot.Apparently magnetic devices to fraud digital tachographs.Telephone number size fine if they catch you with that.Night in the cells perhaps.!Ran Boredeaux to Irun to get out of a 4 day ban,not recommend that for the faint hearted.And loads of Eastern Euro drivers for exceeding 90 hour per fortnight infrigments.It was normal to bung the “Dounes” at the ports,when borders were still operating,and permits to travel.But now,they seem to leave us Brits alone.
tim williams:
Some members refer to them as birth control devices,as in the "condoms"or "presertafifs"in French.That seems a bit racist .
I wouldn’t say it was racist, more an uncomplimentary nickname.
We use similarly uncomplimentary nicknames for our own police, especially after a pull 
.
‘The Filth’ springs to mind, I’m sure there are plenty of other more up to date examples.
tim williams:
That seems a bit racist,you would`nt say that to them as they pull you out the cab after an accident,before the "pompiers"arrive to cut you out.
We wouldn’t use those uncomplimentary nicknames for our own police in these, or similar, circumstances either.
I must say I have generally found them to be fair in their dealings with all us foreign drivers, and have always seen them pull all different nationalities including their own.