At the first ticket received, Camille was initially surprised.
“I was criticized for driving on the bus lane.
It doesn't sound like me.
I still have all my points on my license, assures the young woman of 29 years.
I thought of a careless mistake on my part once.
But when several other fines fall in just a few days, the astonishment gives way to anger, even more today when she received Tuesday a threat of seizure of nearly 2,500 euros.
This volunteer from the diocese of Paris understands immediately.
During the first confinement, last year, the City, the Aurore association and the diocese allied their forces to ensure food distributions in the capital.
"Almost everything was at a standstill," recalls Claire Rossignol, of the solidarity delegation to the diocese of Paris.
We could not leave the most disadvantaged in this situation.
So we united our skills.
Aurore provided us with 1,600 meal trays every day, which we would collect in three different places.
"
For volunteers like Camille and Claire, despite the exorbitant amounts of fines, “you have to put things in perspective.
Our commitment is too deep to stop. ”
Florent Helaine
One of them was on Boulevard Barbès, in the 18th arrondissement.
At number 70. There, from March 17 to the end of May, volunteers from seven to ten parishes came to load their personal cars.
But to access it, not easy.
The road and the sidewalk are separated by a bus lane.
Faced with the amount of food to recover, the volunteers had to cut it to go to park.
Then, to set off again, “the easiest way was to take the bus lane for 15 meters.
I could not see anything in my car full to the brim ”, underlines Philippe, another volunteer of the diocese who served as“ driver ”.
Video tagging in action
Except that at number 74 boulevard Barbès there are video over-marking cameras.
Whose operators have not failed to sanction offenders.
And this even if they had logos on the hoods of their cars indicating "food distribution".
Or that "the police would tell us to go through the bus lane and help us out in front of these cameras!"
Philippe still can't get over it.
In just over two months, he and Camille weren't the only ones getting caught.
In total, around thirty volunteers are involved.
Tuesday, the professor of history and geography, despite her challenges, therefore received a warning threatening her with seizure for nearly 2,500 euros: “Almost two months' salary.
"
These video-tagging cameras have multiplied the fines against the volunteers of the diocese of Paris.
Florent Helaine
Philippe holds the record, with nine fines.
For him too, “it's almost two months of retirement”.
But he is the only one with a glimmer of hope.
This Friday, he will appear in court to plead his case: “An acquaintance, a volunteer like me at Emmaüs, a judge in a court, tells me that I will get out of this.
But Philippe was only summoned for five of his nine tickets.
Why not for the others?
Why is he the only one of the volunteers to have the right to explain himself to justice, when all like him have contested?
Impossible for the moment to explain it.
A letter remained unanswered to the police headquarters
Informed of the situation by Camille, the mayor (PS) of the XVIIIth arrondissement, Eric Lejoindre, sent a letter last October to the prefect Didier Lallement as well as to the Paris court to ask them for their clemency. His arguments ? On the one hand, the volunteers did not want to defraud anything. The traffic, in full containment, being almost zero at the time. And because they were fulfilling a public utility mission. Without a response, he invites the volunteers to come back to him in order to support them, for example by filing an appeal with the Mediator of the Republic.
The City of Paris confirms that “this situation was known to the mayor of the 18th century who had already expressed his support.
This is now reinforced by a letter from the City to each volunteer who can report on it in their administrative and legal proceedings.
The City trusts the good sense of the competent authorities to act leniently in this inadequate procedure.
"
When contacted, the prefecture did not answer our various questions.
We just learn that once the fine has been established, it is impossible to intervene because of the automation of the procedures.
Not yet resigned, Camille and Philippe both say they are still ready to help their neighbor.
With a similar speech: “We have to put things in order.
Our commitment is too deep to stop.
"