more info here from the CTC about rear bike racks...
Continental carriers – 2003.09
"Chapter and Verse" please regarding what is and what is not legal on the Continent (especially France) with regard to bike carriers for cars. I believe that some countries (Holland & France?) are unhappy with the "strap on" type as often seen in the UK and prefer (insist?) on the rigid attachment kind.
D.J. Beynon – Haslingfield, Cambs
Basically the mainland countries have the same regulations about loads attached to cars as us. But they enforce them.
They enforce them especially in places where they expect to find a lot of cars with dodgy loads attached, i.e. holiday traffic, i.e. near ferry ports. And they enforce them with real on-the-spot fines (none of our semi-detached fixed-penalty-in-the-post fudge).
At home and abroad on any vehicle: you must not have anything, not even a spoke, obscuring the least little bit of any lamp or number plate from the view of an observer. And you must not have an "unsafe load".
Lights and number are easily fixed (at a cost) with a lighting board hung on behind the bikes. But the definition of an unsafe load is somewhat open to interpretation. If the carrier is approved by the car manufacturer, that is a good start. Few strap-on carriers are thus approved. In some countries that may be taken as an assumption against strap-on carriers – unless you have a piece of paper to show that your model of car is approved with the carrier in question. From members living in France we know that there are procedures for getting an approved strap-on carrier for some models of car – in France. Unfortunately the system in Britain is a whole lot more laissez-faire.
Generally it seems you are safer with a towball carrier, since the towball is a properly tested fixture. Roofrack cycle carriers are also more of a known quantity with recognised test procedures. That doesn’t make strap-on illegal, but if your load doesn’t rely entirely upon a few bits of webbing it’s just a lot less likely that the policeman will tug at them, suck his teeth and say "non".
And whilst British police do not really like to upset drivers, they seem to be taking a harder line since a motorcyclist was killed the other year – by a load of bikes suddenly dumped in his path! So whether or not you intend to take them abroad, it's worth getting a really solid method of transporting your bikes.
Chris Juden
Get a light board – 2002.07
I was looking through back issues when I noticed a letter about Police in France and their attitude to bike carriers on the rear of cars.
We lived in France a number of years and had a rear carrier without a problem, either with or without light board and number plate. Recently, however, we have noticed a change in attitude. The Police and Gendarmarie have both been enforcing regulations that until recently were openly flouted. On the spot fines are common and provide an easy source of income for authorites. This summer we noticed two Motorcycle police on a roundabout pulling in everyone who had bikes on the back to check their compliance. (They stood in the shade on a very hot day, writing tickets fulfilling some target I suppose, quite enjoying themselves.)
It isn't worth going to France without the proper equipment, as Tourists are an easy target. But note that roof cycle carriers and rear cycle carriers are far cheaper in France (often 50% cheaper), the same quality and available for every type of vehicle. The shops to visit are 'Decathlon' (a sports super store) and Norauto (a store like Halfords, but with better informed staff!).
Gary Harris – Nottingham
However it won’t be so cheap if you get fined before reaching the store! I’d recommend getting the lighting board fitted right now: Britain has the same laws about lights and plates, and sometimes enforces them too.
Chris Juden
French fine bikes on cars – 2001.09
Can you let me have the correct information on carrying bikes by car in France?
I have been told that the French Police are already enforcing an EC regulation regarding rear window mounted bike carriers – i.e. ones held on by straps that go into the top of a hatchback. This regulation, I understood, did not come into force until 2002.
Also the French Police are enforcing the regulation with on-the-spot fines of £120 if a numberplate and working lights are not on bikes mounted on a ball hitch type of carrier.
Mrs V McClure – Ballymoney
I contacted the Vehicle Standards and Engineering section of the Department of Transport and spoke to their expert on car exterior fittings. He assured me that there is no EC regulation in the pipeline about rear window mounted bike carriers. However he confirmed that these matters are covered by existing regulations to do with unsafe loads and lighting.
There have been a number of accidents, in this country and abroad, caused by strap-on cycle carriers falling off the backs of cars and dumping their load in the path of following traffic. One recently caused the death of a motorcyclist. British Police have responded by inspecting more closely the security of such fittings on any cars they decide to check for this or other reasons. What is safe is open to various interpretations and it is possible that French Police are taking the fact that no car manufacturer approves such fittings to imply that anything strapped onto a rear hatch is by definition unsafe.
The partial obscuration of number plates and lights is another area to which Police are paying increased attention. Be advised that it has always been illegal to obscure any lamp or number plate and that these have to be visible from various directions at up to 15 degrees above the horizontal. Strictly speaking: not so much as a spoke may protrude into this zone and if it does then the only legal solution is to mount a supplementary lighting board. Infringement leads to a fine both here and abroad. High-level rear carriers attempt to get over that problem without the extra cost of a lighting board and have become popular. But the taller structure may increase force on the rear window and is invariably attached by even longer straps, inviting the unsafe load criticism.
CTC does not claim to be expert on cars. However: whilst many of our members are apparently content with this means of carrying cycles, I have received enough negative feedback about the apparent lack of security of strap-on racks for me to be biased in favour of the tow bar or ball mounting option – with lighting board. Whilst more expensive and perhaps not quite so convenient, the latter does meet with the approval of vehicle manufacturers. And CTC can hardly complain about the strict and proper application of the law to motorists! I would accordingly urge our motoring members to carry bicycles in a manner most likely to meet with police approval.
C Juden
Im not trying to scare monger here but if your bike falls off the back of your GP and causes a pile up you will be held accountable for your actions it just seems that the UK police dont (yet) get involved unless there is an accident or they cant see your numberplate as the gatso cant get you.....
so i thought i would ask you guys 
