A notable neighborhood fight in the southwestern French department of Landes: a vengeful garage mechanic copied the license plate of his neighbor to saddle him with speeding fines.

The garage mechanic (40) was sentenced yesterday to two months in jail and to pay a fine of 400 euros. His driving license has been withdrawn for three months.

According to a radio channel, France Bleu, garage mechanic and his retired neighbor have long been in trouble. It already led to a conviction for physical violence on the neighbor in question last year. In recent months, tensions have again increased due to a quantity of leaking waste oil that seeped from the garage into the neighbor’s home.

The situation had apparently escalated in such a way that the garage owner took drastic measures. He was clearly not talking about a night of ice. The man copied the license plate of his neighbor and placed it on exactly the same model of car with which the neighbor was driving. Once on the track, he deliberately depressed the gas pedal. He was flashed in the vicinity of his home town. Mission accomplished!

It led to a traffic fine that came to the neighbor in November. It was written black and white that the man had flashed at 82 km/h while the permitted speed was only fifty. The neighbor immediately fought the ticket. He successfully requested the flash photo and thus recognized the garage mechanic.

The garage mechanic admitted the facts in the court of Mont-de-Marsan. “I did something stupid,” it sounded. His lawyer argued that the garage owner was constantly harassed by the neighbor.