French Drama! ...Granny in trouble ....

[GrannyJen]

Starring:
​

Albert the silent witness...

and featuring




Granny apprehended!!





Granny carted off to the slammer!
​

A quiet side street in a sleepy French town. Hordes of my family staying in a gite.

Stood outside in the road talking to my nephew and showing him Albert's latest war wound, a badly scraped mirror cap from being led down a less than 2 metre wide street ...

Around the corner comes two blokes, running. Being a runner myself I was about to joke "not joining them, too hot", when next around the corner comes a car, screeches to a halt, one bloke with a scarf wrapped "Lawrence of Arabia" style around his head, leaps out and starts chasing the two blokes.

We notice the gun, then just as the first bloke running nearly bumps into me so we hear the first shot, and I am sure something warm parted my hair. The second shot is fired as my nephew drags me into the gite, the third as he holds the door whilst I lock it.

Dragging the family in from pool and terrace, all doors and windows locked and bolted, an anxious wait until half the nation's gendarmerie arrive on the scene. Big sighs of relief all round, a glass of wine to steady slightly shaken nerves, watching all the activity, white-overalled SOC officers scouring the street, police bristling with every type of firearm ... and a dink of a light in my head.

Albert's dashcam was still running. The whole lot had been caught on candid camera. End of story was a trip down to Brigade headquarters to emerge three hours later after giving a statement to the most delighted police officers that I have ever seen. They had totally clear video of everything from start to finish.

The downside: They still have my dashcam

The upside is though that I have to go back to collect it

 

[snowy55]

Phew, what drama, when Mr Spielberg buys the copyright who would you like to play you in the Hollywood Block Buster?

 

[Hotel California]

Glad you are ok , do we have to look at the evening news.....?

Is that under the Millaut bridge ? The tour de France passed there today...

 

[calikev]

Jen we can't let you loose anywhere. On the plus side at least your unhurt and safe. Can't you say the gunman scratched Albert's mirror on his was past.

 

[owen_h]

.
Glad you dodged the bullets.
Only bit I can't believe is the ONE glass of wine.
Could they just not keep the memory card from the dashcam?

 

[GrannyJen]

Glad you are ok , do we have to look at the evening news.....?

Is that under the Millaut bridge ? The tour de France passed there today...

Hear am I escaping death by a hairs breadth and all you want to talk about is the tour de France!!



Yes, Millau viaduct. I drove around it, under it then over it on my way home

 

[GrannyJen]

.
Glad you dodged the bullets.
Only bit I can't believe is the ONE glass of wine.
Could they just not keep the memory card from the dashcam?

You would be amazed at the technology inside a french slammer .... what I could download in an hour on to my Apple was taking a week and a half to download direct onto a windows powered hard drive..... I left it with them, I had to set off for home the following morning and they wanted the whole thing for their prosecutors to evaluate,

The one glass of wine was considerably added to when I got home.

 

[GrannyJen]

Jen we can't let you loose anywhere. On the plus side at least your unhurt and safe. Can't you say the gunman scratched Albert's mirror on his was past.

It would be an interesting insurance claim ... cause of damage, gunfire ....

 

[GrannyJen]

Phew, what drama, when Mr Spielberg buys the copyright who would you like to play you in the Hollywood Block Buster?

Never mind about me, who could they find to play Albert??

 

[larrylamb]

Wowzer, never a dull trip with Jen and Albert Glad you are ok.

 

[John Daniels]

Wow, great story!

 

[Bramco]

Cause of damage gunfire - been there done that.

We used to live in Holland and I was returning with my neighbour from a windsurfing session down one of the motorways through a low cutting with bushes on the sides. I thought I caught sight of a figure crouching behind one of the bushes as we drove past. Next thing you know there was a ding on the side of the car, fortunately for me on the passenger side. After stopping some way down the road we got out and sure enough there was a new crater in the passenger door. We reckoned whoever it was was only using a .22 air rifle and after contacting the authorities from the next emergency phone (pre mobiles) we got on our way.

The bright side of all of this was that the car was a loaner while we were waiting for our new car to be delivered, so it was back to the local garage to explain what had happened. I think they were happy when our new car was delivered because a week before the .22 pellet incident a rather large lorry had backed into us at a junction and left a neat crease down the centre of the bonnet!

Simon

PS Granny Jen, glad to hear you survived! I hope you have started writing the book! Maybe we need a new section for this kind of story.

 

[motacyclist]

Great story.

Good job that bullet wasn't a few millimetres lower, it would have been awful quiet on here!

What dash cam have you got? I was going to buy the one recommend on Which:-

Nextbase InCarCam 402G Professional

but the Halfords store wouldn't accept my "scanned on to my phone" British Cycling card for my 10% discount, so I told them to stuff it!

 

[GrannyJen]

duplicated ...

a senior moment

 

[GrannyJen]

Great story.

Good job that bullet wasn't a few millimetres lower, it would have been awful quiet on here!

What dash cam have you got? I was going to buy the one recommend on Which:-

Nextbase InCarCam 402G Professional

but the Halfords store wouldn't accept my "scanned on to my phone" British Cycling card for my 10% discount, so I told them to stuff it!

I have a 402G - excellent clarity, the police could not have had it delivered to them on a plate easier.

The Capitan, who's face looked as though it had had an accident with a truck (his nose was about 20mm to the left of centre, a total hard nut you would not wish to fall out with), could barely conceal his pleasure at the detail he could collect. I think it must have been the first time he had cracked a smile in about 30 years.

Oh, and if that bullet had gone lower then it probably would have killed the gunmen by bouncing back at him

 

[Andresz]

The Fance of today, sadly - feeling like Chicago in the 30rties. I hope the Police did restrain from their usual complain that "usage of dashcam in France is legally forbidden".

 

[Neilgbj]

Good lord....glad all ok in the end, such drama!

 

[GrannyJen]

The Fance of today, sadly - feeling like Chicago in the 30rties. I hope the Police did restrain from their usual complain that "usage of dashcam in France is legally forbidden".

I thought it was only radar detectors banned in France?? I've driven 5,000 miles in France with one fitted and in that time had Albert turned over by customs but no problem with the dashcam.

There was not a mention of any illegality, only smiles all round that I had one and the advice that I have had in the past is that in France they are definitely not illegal if they do not obscure the drivers view of the road, that being the contentious point.

Luxembourg yes, Austria and Switzerland because of their privacy laws probably yes, Belgium seems to have no idea and Germany recently ruling they can be legal, as in France, if the view of the road is not obscured.

A lot comes down to what happens with the material recorded. In Austria if it finds it's way out of the owners hands, on the internet for example, expect A 10,000 EURO fine

 

[larrylamb]

Great story.

Good job that bullet wasn't a few millimetres lower, it would have been awful quiet on here!

What dash cam have you got? I was going to buy the one recommend on Which:-

Nextbase InCarCam 402G Professional

but the Halfords store wouldn't accept my "scanned on to my phone" British Cycling card for my 10% discount, so I told them to stuff it!

It is £119.99 at tesco.com

 

[Skylark2.0]

Starring:
​

View attachment 9220

Albert the silent witness...

and featuring

View attachment 9224


Granny apprehended!!


View attachment 9225


Granny carted off to the slammer!
​

A quiet side street in a sleepy French town. Hordes of my family staying in a gite.

Stood outside in the road talking to my nephew and showing him Albert's latest war wound, a badly scraped mirror cap from being led down a less than 2 metre wide street ...

Around the corner comes two blokes, running. Being a runner myself I was about to joke "not joining them, too hot", when next around the corner comes a car, screeches to a halt, one bloke with a scarf wrapped "Lawrence of Arabia" style around his head, leaps out and starts chasing the two blokes.

We notice the gun, then just as the first bloke running nearly bumps into me so we hear the first shot, and I am sure something warm parted my hair. The second shot is fired as my nephew drags me into the gite, the third as he holds the door whilst I lock it.

Dragging the family in from pool and terrace, all doors and windows locked and bolted, an anxious wait until half the nation's gendarmerie arrive on the scene. Big sighs of relief all round, a glass of wine to steady slightly shaken nerves, watching all the activity, white-overalled SOC officers scouring the street, police bristling with every type of firearm ... and a dink of a light in my head.

Albert's dashcam was still running. The whole lot had been caught on candid camera. End of story was a trip down to Brigade headquarters to emerge three hours later after giving a statement to the most delighted police officers that I have ever seen. They had totally clear video of everything from start to finish.

The downside: They still have my dashcam

The upside is though that I have to go back to collect it

Ooooh, I always look forward to the next thrilling episode but wasn't expecting this what excitement. Just as well the Cali's are so delightfully understated or Albert might have become the gettaway vehicle too... I'm sure you charmed the Gendarmes

 

[GrannyJen]

Ooooh, I always look forward to the next thrilling episode but wasn't expecting this what excitement. Just as well the Cali's are so delightfully understated or Albert might have become the gettaway vehicle too... I'm sure you charmed the Gendarmes

I was getting irritated with the gendarmerie accumulating in the street. They all seemed to want to avoid me, possibly because my French comes over as some lost dialect of Swahili.

I then latched on to a most charming young man, turns out he was a reservist filling in time before joining the French military next year. He spoke excellent English having spent a year in England studying history at the same university that my niece went to.

It was he that listened, understood what I was saying and the importance of it. He went with me to Brigade HQ and as Maigret, the chief, could not speak English that well he had to stay and act as interpreter.

Smiles all round. The young reservist relegated to traffic duty during "lee grande incidente" becomes the hero of the investigation.

 

[Pete Wilkins]

Glad you are okay Jen sorry to hear about Albert and damage to the mirror, Can I please ask is your dash cam set up to work as soon as you start the vehicle , is it hard wired or in cig lighter sockets. And where have you positioned it on the dash. We are thinking of getting one too.

 

[GrannyJen]

Glad you are okay Jen sorry to hear about Albert and damage to the mirror, Can I please ask is your dash cam set up to work as soon as you start the vehicle , is it hard wired or in cig lighter sockets. And where have you positioned it on the dash. We are thinking of getting one too.

Behind the rear view mirror as high as it will go slightly to the right. Allows access to the cam by the driver but out of the way and does not obstruct forward view.

The cam came with a long 12v cable which I string behind the passenger visor, pushed behind the screen trim and tucked into dash/screen gap and plugged into top dash 12v socket, all nicely out of the way.

Once switched on it stays on until manually switched off as that socket remains live with ignition off.

3 hours of recording time before overlooking.

 

[F5 JNR]

Wow, fantastic to read this. just really glad yr ok, your posts brighten my evenings.

 

[Skylark2.0]

Behind the rear view mirror as high as it will go slightly to the right. Allows access to the cam by the driver but out of the way and does not obstruct forward view.

The cam came with a long 12v cable which I string behind the passenger visor, pushed behind the screen trim and tucked into dash/screen gap and plugged into top dash 12v socket, all nicely out of the way.

Once switched on it stays on until manually switched off as that socket remains live with ignition off.

3 hours of recording time before overlooking.

Next on our wish list along with wind shield thingies for front window