Friday, August 19, 2005

Tow Away Zone


Here is a street sign pretty common in Paris... If, like 180 000 people per year, you get your car towed away and taken to La fourrière (car pound) by the Police you will have to pay a ticket (35€), of course, but also possibly "parking" fees (10€/day) if you do not come right away to pick it up. Of course, you will also be charged 126€ for the actual fourrière fees. La fourrière was originally used for animals (in the 17th century, for example, the Police could take your horses to the fourrière if they caught you feeding them in the street!). Now there are 10 fourrières in Paris and they are mostly used to store cars that block traffic.
If you speak French, pay a visit to this site, it will tell you everything about the fascinating history of Paris car pounds!

10 comments:

  1. Juste pour te féliciter.
    Ces photos sont toutes superbes, sois assurée que je reviendrai.
    Qui sait, je découvrirai ptêtre mon quartier au détour d'une de ces images ^^
    (Une comparse du 18e au lycée dans le 9e :p)

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  2. One thing that I absolutely LOVE about the French is how proud they are of their history. I can't imagine the Minneapolis Police Department hosting "the history of parking on Nicollet Island" on their website, no matter how interesting it may be. But that site is AWESOME. Thanks for sharing. You ARE the super-boss photo blog.

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  3. i love the lighting in this photo, it's sort of hypnotizing.

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  4. You are right bourgogne, the lighting in the picture is great. I see three screws on the sign - can it be unscrewed ? I knew someone who used to "collect" random harmless signs (not that I'm advocating that ;) ...

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  5. > Anonymous. Merci beaucoup, c'est très gentil ! Et je prends assurément des photos du 18ème aussi...

    > Michèle. LOL. Actually I have been surprised myself that the official Police website has this story about car pounds. Isn't great?! More than anything thank you Internet! Cause it's really great to have access to all this info at the tip of a mouse...


    > Bourgogne and Dev. You know what? The light comes from my motorbike (I took this photo yesterday evening) and I loved the effect. That's why I used it today.

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  6. > Dev. By the way. Yes, it can be unscrewed. It's called stealing, though!

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  7. Screws are logical : as this sign says, "you have to remove this" ! Then, take your screwdriver and take it !
    I made a mistake ? Oups ! Sorry :-)

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