french peage

[ethandron]

can anyone tell me with absolute certainty whether there are some peage exits on french toll roads which only take debit or credit cards and have no facility for paying by cash. i'm not talking about the multi-lane peages, where there is always a manned/cash lane but the smaller unmanned ones.
i have travelled extensively in france and have never come across a peage where the only option is to pay by card, indeed i usually use cash, and find it rather hard to believe that there are any at which the only option for exiting is to use a debit or credit card. there are no warnings anywhere to inform drivers of this and i have never come across it.
i am having a good natured dispute with someone about this and would appreciate any input. thanks.

[grasscarp]

I cant see how a place that only took cards would work. Not everyone has a credit card, and supposing you had left it at home? I have often used pay tolls in France and Italy and have not found any that were card only.
Worst experience I ever had was the Dartford Tunnel where one night I found myself with no money. They made me write out a cheque for 12.5 pence which is what it cost at that time.

[ethandron]

no i can't either grasscarp and for the same reasons as you but this person it absolutely adamant. unfortunately i can't find anything on the web which states it one way or another.
twelve and a half pence? dear, dear, it probably cost them more than that to process the cheque!

[Khandro]

Yes, there is one I know of leaving La Ciotat (nr.Marseille) towards Aix-en-Provence, though it may not be permanently so. Using credit cards should be avoided as much as possible on Paege because your U.K. bank will charge you per transaction. I believe Nationwide doesn't do this though.

[SlackAlice]

Nationwide charges you now. They changed the terms and conditions recently.

[ethandron]

'it may not be permanent' - why do you think that khandro?

[coccinelle]

Hi there ethandron how are you doing?
There are times that the cash machines are 'en panne' so that's what probably happened to this person.

[ethandron]

hi coccinelle, was wondering if you'd see this :)
i'm good thank you. wonderful trip to la belle france, one of our best ever, if not THE best - normandy, brittany, ile de re and loire (the loire bit wasn't so good, not quite sure why so many rave about it, but there you go).
what about you, how's things? i thought of you a few times while we were away, wondering how you're doing. finished for the summer now i guess? lots of visitors coming over? any plans to come to england?
so you reckon that none are deliberately none-cash, it's just if the cash bit breaks down? i suppose that makes sense but it's a bit unfortunate if you don't have a card and end up at one of these, wonder what you'd do? i imagine there's a call-for-help button somewhere so you'd just have to wait to be rescued.

[grasscarp]

I remember a few years ago in Italy when they still had lira. They were very short of small denomination coins, so often gave sweets as change. I can remember one toll when we threw a load of these sweets in. Somehow the barrier went up and we were away and I really thought we might get chased but we didnt!

[Khandro]

'it may not be permanent' - why do you think that khandro?
ethandron; I had to use a card because the control was not manned (personned!) but I can't say that it is always the case there, - it is only a small station, someone may have had to leave their post, it was last year and I have never been back. I have driven a lot in France and I think it was the only time it has happened. I have considered signing up to the Telepeage system, but have never done so, it certainly speeds things up. Has anyone tried this?

[ethandron]

i see what you mean khandro.
i wouldn't consider a telepeage thingy myself but there are plenty of brits who do and i believe it's easy enough to sort out from england. the main problem seems to be that the battery in them runs out before their value is used up, rendering them unusable even though there's credit still on them. the battery is supposed to last for up to 3 years i think, not a problem if you're going to use the credit on it well before 3 years is up, but just something to be aware of. there are some reports that the battery fails well before 3 years, some not much longer than 2 years.

[coccinelle]

Yes, ethandron it can't be permanent because by law anything under 100€ (not sure if this is still the amount) has to be able to be paid in cash.
Yes, finished for the summer and have family coming over next week for two weeks and friends in August. Going to England in September then it'll be back to lessons. In the meantime I'm getting upto date on the house and garden.
Glad you enjoyed your holiday. Ile de Ré is really nice as is all of Vendée in my opinion; great for cycling... The Loire Valley is very touristy in summer but some lovely castles to visit, did you see the mushroom caves near Saumur?

[Khandro]

https://www.saneftolling.co.uk/support/faq
There seems not to be a battery involved in this system.

[coccinelle]

There is; it says 5 to 7 years and they will replace it.

[Playbill]

Hi ethandron. We were planning to spend a week in the Loire Valley in September. It is one of the few parts of France that we have not spent much time in. What was it about the area that disappointed you? We have plenty of guide books, and there are no shortage of web pages, but an unbiased opinion is also welcome.

Will look up the mushroom caves coccininelle mentioned.

[Khandro]

To hell with mushrooms, go to the wine caves sez I. Also don't miss Amboise, where at the chateau, Leonardo da Vinci finished his days.

[Playbill]

Some more things to investigate - thanks.

[ethandron]

playbill, this was our third visit to the loire and to be honest is was a combination of the heat and crowds which really did it for us this time. our first visit was interesting and we visited a number of chateaux which are, of course, very picturesque, a couple of them are worth a visit (i'm sure your guide book will tell you). we were expecting them to be filled with furniture, too, much like national trust properties, and were quite surprised and disappointed that none that we visited were. we both found it far too hot to be traipsing round though to be honest. the other thing is visiting the wine tasting cellars if one of you is driving. it's not much fun being the only 'taster' and although we do still do this, i'm not keen, me being the taster. i'm sure you'll enjoy your visit though, don't let me put you off :)
no coccinelle, i've never even heard of the mushroom caves, would have been worth a visit. nice and cool too i bet.
khandro, touraine amboise is my favourite wine at the moment, delicious, and bought from one of the 'caves'!
thank you all for your input, will now go and try to convince this person that they're not quite correct...