Easy to park: A VSP tucked between an old-style Mini and a Smart car
"If you are planning on driving in France, beware - one could be heading straight for you at the next roundabout. Carolyn Brown, who lives part of the year in Brittany, has a cautionary tale about a very small car.
Losing one's driving licence in the UK is a serious matter - expensive and, to say the least, very inconvenient.
But in France, no licence? No problem. You can simply go shopping for a VSP a voiture sans permis - a small two-seater car that anyone aged 14 or over can take out on the road with as little as four hours' experience behind the wheel, sometimes not even that.
It's impossible to say how many there are as no official figures exist. It is what the French call a chiffre noir - an unknown quantity.
You'll probably hear them coming first, a high-pitched whine like a sewing machine being run at full throttle. If you get stuck behind one on a windy rural lane, tant pis. Top speed is 45km per hour (28mph). It's probably a good idea to stop in the next lay-by and admire the view for a while rather than sit fuming in its wake.
On market day in my nearest town here in Brittany the little voitures sans permis splutter into the main street. Although the literal translation is "car without licence" it is in fact the driver who doesn't need to bother himself or herself with any proof of ability behind the wheel.
Once seen as an anachronism that, given time, would inevitably be legislated out of existence they remain a vital means of transport for an ageing rural population. For the most part they are scruffy and battered. Their bodywork is faded and peeling, often touched-up with a spot of household gloss paint. Wire and gaffer tape hold loose panels together and one I saw had its bumper held in place with washing line fashioned into an elaborate blanket stitch."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35210572
Over here in the Netherlands you can drive as well in those 
things around.
Kees
