Life / Car Documents - what to do if you lose them? [17]


Hang on a sec - which country are we talking about here?

Has she lost her Polish or UK documents?

As far as the UK DNZ is right - there is no requirement to carry your car documents on you if you are in the UK. The police can easily check your insurance, tax and MOT at the roadside via their computer/radio.

If they suspect something is wrong or you don't show up on their database they usually issue you with a "producer" that requires you to produce your documents at a police station of your choice within 7 days.

If you have UK documents but are driving in Europe then you have to carry your documents with you at all times. Likewise for foreign vehicles in the UK.

Life / Car Documents - what to do if you lose them? [17]

OK in which case he has a major headache. He will need to not only report it to the Police but also sort it out at the vehicle office where you do your car registration.

Apologies - I referred to 'she' earlier not 'he' because when I read 'magdalena' in the nickname I straight away presumed the poster was female. I see now that is wrong.

Life / Car Documents - what to do if you lose them? [17]

I just leave the documents in my wallet so I always have them.

Before I knew about this I got stopped on the A4 by customs and didn't have my documents. They confiscated my licence until the police arrived (a couple of hours later) and they just wrote me out a ticket and left.

Life / Car Documents - what to do if you lose them? [17]


Yes - they are very small - I think they are paper size A6. They come in a little plastic holder so they don't get damaged. The insurance certificate is the same size so just tucks in with the ownership document. The MOT is just a stamp on the ownership doc if I remember correctly (too lazy to go and check).

Study / Aviation for non-Polish in Poland [11]


is that just at international airports or at all airfields, even the little ones?

Because a Polish friend of mine flies and he says that when he goes to/from Krakow he has to speak English to them, but when he is at the tiny local airfield (not even an airport) that nobody seems to speak English.

Law / Selling on Allegro from UK [19]

Hi

I am doing a similar thing the other way around - I sell to the UK and ship from Poland. In my experience:

1. Recorded express delivery takes 4 to 5 working days. I have more problems with Royal Mail than I do with Poczta Polska. However the tracking is very poor - if something gets lost I have to wait 28 days before they will investigate. Once a parcel got lost and they managed to find it but it took weeks. There is no online tracking or anything like that.

Alternatively you could use couriers to ship from the UK but I suspect that that will be prohibitively expensive unless you ship in large volume.

2. You get the payment straight away pretty much and seems to work well. COD seems to be a very popular option in Poland.

3. Of the computers? Or of the software that I presume is bundled with the computers? I would expect most buyers would want a Polish keyboard etc...

Good luck with your new venture.

Law / Selling on Allegro from UK [19]


yes, if I buy a computer in Polish I would expect the O/S to be in Polish. I would expect the average Pole too also.


to prove that you provided a valid address as a security check. Poland is much more bureaucratic than the UK.


a website for what? I have a couple of Polish websites (I run a website company too) so feel free to bounce your ideas around.

Law / Selling on Allegro from UK [19]


No, not exactly the same. The letters are the same but not the symbols and symbol locations.

In fact I have a keyboard bought in Poland, and one from the UK. There are some differences such as having a dollar sign and not pound sign above the number 4 and the ampersand sign and double quotes are inverted. Also my Polish keyboard is missing the squiggly dash ~. Apart from that and a few more symbols in different places they are the same.

Whether these differences are significant or not is a different matter though.

Life / What is assumption day in Poland? [18]


so you probably meant "guys" - chłopaki

Life / Taking action against landlords / landladies [10]


Most probably your local Urząd Skarbowy office. I am sure you could find somebody there interested to hear your story.

Life / Can you keep a right hand drive car in Poland? [57]


That seems like a lot of hassle to me unless you drive to the UK once a year anyway. To do that just for the MOT seems a bit pointless given the time and cost in fuel to do that round-trip.

I agree that a conversion seems pointless too.

I don't understand why people don't just sell their RHDs in the UK and buy an LHD in Poland (or Germany etc..) and save the 140 odd quid on road tax, and a couple of hundred quid on insurance.


Well the ergonomics depends on the car - some cars (e.g. Ferrarri) are designed as LHD and so the RHD versions aren't as comfortable. Some cars as designed as RHD (I believe Toyota amongst others) so you are probably right.


I don't see how it can be safe to overtake in an RHD vehicle in Europe. You either have restricted visibility or have you to set up extra mirrors or a camera etc..

Life / Poland's gun control [5]

To get a gun permit according to bron.pl/content/view/full/1927:

You need to get a doctor's survey done to demonstrate that you are not mentally disturbed. You have to repeat this every 5 years.

You need to demonstrate a valid reason as to why you want a gun - i.e. you are a member of a shooting or sporting club, you have genuine reason to believe your life is in danger (and can demonstrate this somehow), etc...

You have to sit an exam (unless you are a member of the Polish Hunting Club or Polish Association for Sports Shooting and want a permit for that purpose). There are different exams depending on the purpose of gun ownership (e.g. you are a gun collector, souvenir collector, personal protection, sports, gun trainer) which vary in cost from 400 - 1000 PLN.

You have to submit an application at your local police station including a biography/resume/CV of your life detailing your education, job, any military service etc...

Your application has to include proof of employment or your documents to show you are self-employed. You have to include 2 photos and PESEL number.

UK, Ireland / Registering a motorbike in Poland and shipping a fish tank there [5]

britishinpoland.com/blog/2008/02/importing-a-motorbike/

Language / Czy jest pan or czy pan jest? [14]


word order is much more flexible in Polish than in English. Often the order is changed to give emphasis in a different place as Krysia has said.


just to be clear - you are not "removing" the Pan/Pani - i.e. you can't say "czy jest pijany" instead of "czy Pan jest pijany", but you can use the 2nd person instead of the 3rd person plus Pan/Pani construction to give "jesteś pijany" as gumishu mentions.

The 2nd person form of address is for people you know, children, animals or talking to God. [Although being a total atheist I haven't tested the God bit :-) ]

Language / Czy jest pan or czy pan jest? [14]

yes you are correct - jesteś pijany = you're drunk

apologies - I didn't bother typing the "czy" which would have made it clearer.

Language / Czy jest pan or czy pan jest? [14]

yes that's right. It's normally called voice "intonation". I didn't want to over complicate the original question though....

Travel / Driving In Poland ( scooters ) [11]


You can ride a 50cc scooter (not 100cc) from the age of 13 as long as you have got permission from your school:

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karta_motorowerowa

Given that you don't go to school in Poland I don't see how you would be able to get a "karta motorowerowa" so I think that you are going to be stuck until you are 16 and can do your licence in the UK. Unless anybody here knows a way around this....?

Language / Czy jest pan or czy pan jest? [14]

Yes - as metioned above - generally people you know, children, animals or talking to God. People you are on first name terms with.

Life / Looking for details on hunting in the vovoidship of Warmia-Mazurskie. [92]


You need to join the Polish Hunting Association.
pzlow.pl
I believe the club that Bzibzioh linked to is one such club.

Then you need to do a 1 year probation period, 60 hours of training and sit an exam. There is info on this on the Krakow club website here: pzl.krakow.pl

Have a look on those websites and you will at least see pictures of what game there is etc..

But unless you speak Polish I don't see realistically how you will be able to get through these procedures and become a member.

Law / Polish business invoices: do they still need to be stamped and signed? [10]


My understanding is that either:

* you have to produce a stamped/signed paper invoice

OR

* you can send an electronic invoice via email but it has to be signed with a digital signature - from the top of my head I think it's called a "bezpieczny podpis elektroniczny". This is a recently new law I believe (2007 or 2008). I looked up doing this myself and decided it wasn't worth the hassle for the small number of invoices I send each year because you have to buy an electronic certificate that needs to be renewed each year plus some other bits and pieces etc.. etc.. etc..

Law / Polish business invoices: do they still need to be stamped and signed? [10]

In most developed countries people stopped using stamps 50+ years ago, so I think it's reasonable that if you have an invoice from a country other than Poland it isn't going to have a stamp on it. I think even the Urząd Skarbowy are capable of understanding that.

I suggest you print off your invoice to keep with your records though.

Australia / Polish Degrees/postgrad/masters recognition in Australia [4]

the process of having these awards recognised by other countries is called "nostrification". I don't know the rules for Australia, but I am sure if you google for "nostrification australia" or similar you might find something.

Australia / Polish Degrees/postgrad/masters recognition in Australia [4]

in fact I found the Australian office responsible:

aei.gov.au/AEI/QualificationsRecognition/Default.htm

Life / Driving lesson - reading material in English help please.... [17]

apparently if you tell the office in advance you can do the test in English or German.

Life / How much is the Internet service in Poland? [11]

Note that depending on where you live there might not even be DSL available. I have got 512kb/s and can't upgrade because that's the fastest they can give me given the quality of the phone line to my house.

There was a thing on the news recently about how some places don't have any access at all - including a street ironically named "internet street".

Language / Why są, why not jest?? [32]


Yes, but in English we would say "Leeds is a nice town" whereas in Polish they literally say "Katowice are a nice town". This is confusing to us native English speakers.

It's just a fact that towns ending in -ice are plural (and there's loads of them) and therefore need to be grammatically declined as such.

Language / Why są, why not jest?? [32]


As examples of plural names yes, but we still say "The Netherlands is a great place to visit", it would sound wierd to say "The Netherlands are a great place to visit".

Likewise we say "The United States is a great country", not are

Language / Why są, why not jest?? [32]

in fact most Brits would avoid this and say "Holland". "The Netherlands" is used in more formal situations. Which is "correct" is not black and white as is often the case with language. Just ask 100 native Brits which they think is wierd and decide for yourself.

Life / Can anyone recommend a private children's hospital in Krakow? [3]

Thanks WB and others for the private messages of kind wishes.

The top doctor discharged her today as he agreed it would be better for her to be at home rather than in the ward even though she hasn't totally recovered.

Overall though I must say I am very happy with the hospital (staff, not building) and the care given. Given the choice of being stuck in a hospital in Poland or the UK, I prefer Poland.