Speeding French mayor: ‘I was just drying the car’

When police pull over speeding motorists they are no doubt presented with plenty of excuses for drivers being over the speed limit.

“I am late for work”, “My wife’s pregnant”, “I didn’t look at the speed dial” are all regular explanations to try and persuade officers not to hand out a fine.

But a mayor in a northern French town has come up with an entirely new one, that he says is totally genuine.

When Jean-Louis Hennon, was pulled over by police after being caught travelling at 150km/h on a stretch of road where the limit was 90km/h, he told police he was simply trying to dry his car off.

The mayor of Courcelles-Epayelles, in the Oise department of northern France told officers he had just been to a nearby carwash at a service station.

“I went to the car wash and on the way back I may have accelerated [over the limit] for only a kilometre, no more, to dry the car out.

“It may seem strange but the excuse is sincere,” he told local newspaper Le Courrier Picard.

But the elected official regretted his actions and accepted that “mayors are not above the law”.

Hennon will be hoping that the black mark on his record, will not influence voters, who will go to the polls on Sunday, where they will get the chance to re-elect him.

For their part police, were not convinced by the “drying the car excuse” and confiscated his driving license. 

Have you talked you way out of a speeding fine? What excuse did you use?