Polish Cop Took My Car Registration :S

The last I checked, the official language of Poland was - surprise, surprise - Polish. I think if someone decides to live in Poland (or any other foreign country), they should make the effort to learn the language as well. And don't give me examples of how the British authorities are bending over backwards to supply interpreters to Polish (and Chinese, and Greek, and Ethiopian...) migrants, as it was their own misguided idea, nobody expected it and nobody forced them to, and if NuLabor hadn't come up with this multikulti ideology, most immigrants would be fluent in English by now (which of course they aren't).

Ask for a translator from the start. They won't use force to get your documents...

nauczyciel


What else did you expect, fool ? Too bad they didn't kick you out of this country.

Does anyone know if one has the right to a translator/interpreter in Poland? Does one have the right to a state paid interpreter if detained? During criminal proceedings?

Yeah, the authorities should provide a sworn interpreter.

Is that for any interaction with the police, or when you're being charged with a criminal offense? Is there any criteria?

Of course not.

You have the right to a sworn translator if you're the accused or witness in criminal proceedings.

thus the question


that's exactly what I was looking for, thanks!

Lame answer
Ya... like its just so easy. It takes over 10 years for the native born Pole to learn their language, speaking it every day....so how would a foreigner learn it fluently in a few years?


fyou for calling me a fool. Why should they kick me out? On what grounds?

in Canada when the police stop someone, that person is entitled to a translator to explain what is going on. I used to listen to the scanner and heard almost everyday a call for a translator to some location for sth. Also, my friends that are police in Canada can call for a translator if they are requested to do so, for any circumstance.

Oh come on, that's rubbish. A small child of 3 years old is more than able to understand and communicate in quite advanced language, so what's your excuse? You've been here long enough, so the fact that you couldn't communicate with the police and needed a translator is shameful.


In Canada this, in Canada that. If Canada's so great, why did you move here?

Poland doesn't have the money to go wasting it on translators for ignorant foreigners that can't be bothered to learn the language. I don't want to pay higher taxes to pay for translators - if they want to live in Poland, they should learn the language, simple!

I'm sorry, but no-one's going to feel sorry for a foreigner who admits to breaking the law and then who sulks about not getting a translator.

Can you speak Polish? Also taxes are higher in Poland than they are in the UK. Do you actually pay tax?


Its not so much breaking the law its when you are targeted by corrupt police officers looking for an extra bit of cash.

Have you ever driven a car in Poland?

Badly, but I don't expect anyone to speak English in Poland. It's always a pleasant shock to discover that they can speak English, but I certainly don't expect people to be able to do so.


Exactly. I'd rather not pay extra tax for translation costs!

And yes, I pay tax, and enough of it.


He admitted that the tints were illegal, so he has no leg to stand on. If they really were corrupt, they'd have made it clear that he either paid up there and then or face being taken to the station until he proved his identity. That would be corruption - but the police actually did the right (and most painful) thing.

I really can't see how anyone can argue with the punishment when it was very mild!

You know, I would much rather pay the "spot fee" than to go to the station. I'm an enabler, what can I say. I used to get pulled over all the time up until about 5 years ago. Since then, I've been pulled over a whole two times, rightfully tagged by the radar gun. No payment or ticket either time. One of those times was in Katowice a couple of years back at about 3am. I was driving back from Kielce to Wroclaw and I explained that I needed to get back and my girlfriend was waiting. The ticket? A promise to go buy 100zl worth of flowers for my girlfriend. Girlfriend was happy the next day, police avoided paperwork, everyone was happy.

Polish police (as far as I can tell) seem to be quite pragmatic as a whole - I got lifted for crossing on a red light right in front of them (yes, I deserved it)..they let me go after realising that I didn't speak Polish and they didn't speak English.

The oxymoronic thing is that the Police really could do with toughening up considerably in order to sort out the terrible driving standards in Poland!

You admit to having poor Polish skills so don't criticize my Polish skills when you don't know anything about me and how good or bad I can speak.

How do you know exactly where your government spends your taxes? You don't. So don't go rambling on about having to pay for translators. Such a lame arguement.

Speeding, illegal overtaking, failing to stop for a person in, or waiting for, a crosswalk is just as much as an infraction as illegal tint. So get over yourselves.

I've been stopped in traffic dozens of times beside a marked police car, and never had a problem. Last month I was talking with about 6 policemen outside of my shop (on a matter that had nothing to do with me) as they are looking at my car and never said anything about the tint.

It's funny how that cop that stopped me was actually behind me driving in a straight line. It looks like he was on a fishing trip and found the tint and decided to go for that as a reason to stop me. I've seen him around a few times in the past days and give him a dirty look thru my now untinted windows. I'm sure he knows it was me, cuz he gives me that look and there are only 3 cars of my type in my city.

I don't see how this taking my registration is painful. :S having my car towed, impounded, searched, damaged, being arrested for whatever would be painful.

I had 3 forms of photo ID with me, IDP,KP,Canadian DL. I don't think identifying me would be a problem.

Where in my original post was I whining?? I was merely asking about why he took my registration.

Perhaps I should've just written "got stopped by police, he took my car registration. Is this normal? what should I do?"

Oh as you admit your Polish is bad, I'd like to see just how well you'd hold up in the same situation.

Some people learn languages differently. Being Canadian, I have a good knowledge of French and could survive in a French speaking country quite easily. I'm sure like any foreigner in PL, there are some ppl that can say 1 sentence (in Polish) to you and you understand it, but that same sentence said by someone different, could leave you scratching your head. Everyone has a different learning curve, so get off your high horse and have a slice of humble pie

What do my Polish skills have to do anything? You're the one that was complaining because they wouldn't get you a translator! (which, by the way, pretty much confirms that you don't know the language)


I don't think there's will in Poland to pay for translators full stop. Certainly, in a country where there are huge social problems in some respects, paying for translators isn't really top of the list.


What's your point? You were busted for it, so stop moaning about the police!


Doesn't matter, the point is that on the day, you were driving with an illegal tint and got pulled up for it.


That's absolutely normal for policing. If someone is idiotic enough to drive around with an illegal tint, then it's very possible that there might be something else going on. As I said, you were lucky not to be detained pending your ability to prove your identity.


That's mature, giving a policeman a dirty look because he enforced the law! Do you have the same disrespect for the law in Canada? And if so, are you really surprised that other people disrespect you in Poland?


It's a pain in the ass, and forces you to remove the tints. Quite a good punishment really.


None of those forms of photo ID are acceptable under Polish law and certainly aren't acceptable under Schengen law. You'll find that the only forms of ID acceptable (on an official basis in order to perform border control and identity checks) are either EU ID cards issued to EU nationals or passports. Nothing else. There are some exceptions, but none of these apply to you.


I wouldn't go crying about needing a translator, because I understand the language not too badly, and I'd be able to find out what the punishment was and what I needed to do. Might not be in great Polish, but I'd get there.

I never carry my ID in Poland, Only my driving licence which clearly has printed on it EU. Theres no way I would take my passport anywhere where there are likely to be dishonest Police who stop me simply for driving a UK registered car.


How do you know if your tints are illegal? Many manufactueres ie BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar and lots of the Japanese manufacturers fit tinted glass as OE equipment.


When I get stopped I demand they speak to me in English, If they stop a UK registered car with the steering wheel on the right hand side what language do they expect the occupants to speak?

For an english person to learn a language such as polish which is spoken in one country with a tiny population it seems somewhat pointless. Poland seems to be trying to promote itself as a new business centre in Europe and as the international language of Business is in fact English the logical thing would be to learn it really.


I agree but the police should really speak English, They do in every other EU country and the Feds in the UK have even been forced to speak Polish.

The law in the UK isn't upheld by a bunch of incompetent money grabbing corrupt idiots who pull over drivers and ask where their table is? Also the Police in the UK seem to lead by example I've seen a Polish policeman swigging a bottle of Vodka whilst sat in his marked Police car. How can you possibly have respect for such utter morons?

Personally I think a car with tinted windows driven by someone from a civilised country is much safer than a car driven by the average Pole?

Also its not illegal to not speak the language of the country you are in and the police should have a system in place should the person being targeted not be able to speak the local language, Every civilized country has such a system but then again that approach would be far to logical for Poland.

Ok... now calm down everybody!!

Firstly, I would like to say, I am not saying in any way shape or form that driving an illegal car is ok, but I would like to make it very clear that Polish Police are well known for being corrupt and Poland would be a much better place without them... your tax money is going towards the wages for people that rather than uphold or reinforce the law are looking for anyway they can to put money into their own pockets and NOT to issue fines that ultimately would be put back into the Polish economy and work towards making the country a better place to live for not only Polish people but its foreign tax paying residents too.

Everybody knows that Poland is way behind in building up itself to european standards, which is one of the reasons that the Euro hasn't been intoduced yet and why it is lacking many things (such as translators - its a basic human right to be able to understand why their property is being taken away from them or why they are being arrested by Police - wouldn't you be scared if you were being arrested and they refused to get you a translator - Your GIRLFRIEND IS POLISH, MIKEY, WHICH IS WHY YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN ANY AKWARD OR UPSETTING SITUATIONS THAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!).

I have lived in Poland for 2.5 years and have had a few situations where:
a) The police have seen a british registered car and stopped me for no reason and wanted me to give them money (in Euros on one occasion - WTF??) when I was doing nothing wrong - and the car was legitimate, insured, tested with all its documents at the correct speed limit.

b) I was asked for ID while I was walking to a party with friends and they suspected we had open alcohol and as soon as they saw my British ID they wanted money

c) A Police guy wanted to ask me a questiona and as soon as he realised I didn't speak Polish a look of terror came accross his face and he more or less ran away

d) Police have stopped us and just acted like bastards to try to ruin our party, searching us one by one for narcotics and generally being a pain in the arse, when it was clear that we were just a group of young people chatting in the park.

I am happy to provide my ID to any police that ask for it, because I know I'm not a criminal - but I will not carry my passport because if someone pickpockets me or something then i am literally f**ked... I wouldnt be able to get back home to get a new one and its too much pi**ing around to go all the way to Warsaw. My driving license says EU on it, so why isn't it accepted.... ah.... I know, its a case of "We are in the EU" when grants are being offered and "This is not acceptable in Poland" when it suits them... now i see... the same thing about registering foreign cars - i guess its not profitable enough for corrupt Police.

Well, I would also like to say that its not often that I speak up against people on here, I would much rather do it in person... BUT jesus Mikey... you don't even have a driving license and you go outside to work 15 hours a week - all the rest of the time you hide behind your Polish girlfriend who helps you with everything! You have very little experience to speak of when it comes to being a foreigner alone in a country you don't know much about... it takes time to learn a language, even if you're trying. To be honest, I think some of the comments on here are right and others are wrong.

I live in Poland, I chose to live in Poland and I like living in Poland - BUT there are still things that need to be improved and all the educated Polish people that I have spoken to admit that too. It will take time, I know that - but it could be faster if some professions here weren't so corrupt - FACT!

I have experienced Police corruption, corruption in education, conductor corruption on trains and trams, local authority corruption - and I'm not Polish... but I've seen it! Money talks... so maybe if I gave everyone 100zl for agreeing with my point on this one then mine would be the most agreed with post on Polish forums??!

Whenever I meet a clown like you, who thinks that the whole world should now his little language, I say "no understand" and then when he throws some fucks around, I tell him what a pathetic human he is. It's fun to watch a pink peasant turning red.


Yep... European standards at their finest:

computerweekly.com/Articles/2007/11/20/228216/UK-government-loses-data-on-25-million-Britons.htm

some more from our own forums...

polishforums.com/polonia-uk-ireland-31/uk-government-refuses-live-uk-40866/


You mean the currency ? Do you even know what are the requirements to join the Euro zone ?

And where did you get 10 years from? Even in china kids learn chinese faster!

How long have you been living in poland? I think it would take YOU 10 years to learn polish.

Stop complaining about the police for busting you for breaking the law and go back to teaching people like me grammar!

My Polish friend was trying to buy cigarettes in our local Co-op and her Polish driving license was refused, as well as her Polish ID, which is by the way a valid travel document. Come on, it's not that everything in Poland is soo bad and everything in the UK is sooo wonderful! Things like that happen - in every country.

And to Chris - if I try speaking Polish to someone in the UK, there is no chance in hell they will understand me. So why do you expect people here to speak English to you? "They don't even speak English" - well yes, it's all so easy to say, but well the hell people my parents' age were supposed to learn? They had Russian in school, you know, not English! We are in Poland and we speak Polish here!

And by the way, try going to France, Italy or Spain and speaking English there. Good luck! (A guy in Notre Dame de Paris didn't know what "two tickets" mean).

And it's certainly really rude to call someone's country "uncivilised".


Why don't you carry a photocopy of your passport?


Like in every single other country in the world.

D, if some Pole or Hungarian or Slovakian or German or Swede or Slovenian or Czech or (need I go on?) or French person were to be pulled over in their illegally tinted car, would you expect our dear boys in blue to be able to converse with them in whatever language to happen to speak? If we expect people to be able to communicate in Englist whilst in England, its not really unfair to expect your host country to expect you to be able to communicte in their lang.

As already pointed out Poland does not want to go down the road of employing and spending millions of tax payers money on interpreters..


Spanish kids learn English at school, I'd say the majority of the Spanish population speak a little bit of English, as do the French and the Italians...The French just refuse to use English - so its was more than likely the guy understood you perfectly but just didnt want acknowledge the fact you spoke to him in English.. :D

But just exactly how many languages do the Canadian police have translators for?


It's easy to say the police should speak English but then that also means they should speak Russian, German, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Bialorussian, Vietnamese and the multitude of languages on offer in Poland, some of which are probably more common than L1 English.

Considering the immigration office in my city does not seem to have anyone who speaks English, I'm not surprised the police don't have great skills


Should have been in Glasgow 10 years ago. The police had a huge crackdown on speeding and traffic violations. On one stretch of road it was possible to lose your licence by speeding for a couple of hundred metres, because there were 3 sets of cameras (3x convictions = 12 points). The police all but openly admitted it was more about making money for police coffers than a concern for road safety.]


Funnily enough, the last time I tried to register at a temp agency in UK I was told that Home Office regulations in UK now state a UK driving licence (EU plastic one) is not considered valid id!!!!

Just passport or birth certificate (you know, that piece of paper with your photo on... not!)


It doesn't mean they are any good at it! British kids learn French or German or Spanish at school, but the population in general is still notoriously crap at actually speaking foreign languages.

Some do but refuse...

So you're comparing the polish police with people who work in the co-op?? You said it... not me...

AND by the way - who said that the UK was so wonderful? Not me! There are loads of problems there - do i live there? No, I don't - you know why? Well, that's a whole different topic now isn't it??

There are loads of stories in the news about corruption in Poland (this is called polishforums not englishforums!) and my point is - as Polish people you should understand that I am only speaking the truth and you shouldn't be so defensive. If the corruption stopped it would be a much beffer country for everyone - how is that offensive??

Also, I think that it is not really very constructive for you to start lashing out at other peoples countries when it is Poland which is in discussion here...

If you had some constructive criticism - fine... but you don't.

Oh and as for translators nd languages - I don't really care if people speak my language or not... but it is a fact that English is popular in Europe, as well as other countries in the world. If I was in trouble I would want a translator - as European citizens, at least, it is our right.

My Polish friends mother was really ill in England when she was visiting and the hospital provided her with a translator (which she didn't ask for, but got nevertheless) - I would hope that Poland would be as courteous... So far I did my best on my own... but actually it didn't do me much good as after a mis-translation by myself and my friend my chest infection turned into a bacterial infection and then to pneumonia.... oh well... I suppose it doesn't matter that I could have died.

That would be a very good point were it not for things like this:

Driving licence is an acceptable form of ID when applying for a job, Fact!. Which agency did you try and use?


Yes I agree with this statement in its entirety speed cameras are a way of soley making money.

On the other hand I've never had a policeman in the UK stop me for driving at the speed limit only to throw me in the back of his car and demand money from me on the spot.


Yes or supply a translator so that the person in question understands what is going on. English is spoken worldwide and polish is spoken only in Poland. I also speak Spanish which is spoken by the vast majority of the non english speaking world. Also learning Polish is a pointless exercise really as its only spoken in Poland which limits you to well Poland, Its like coming from Basque country and expecting everyone to learn your language which is spoken by 3 people.

I learnt a bit of polish which is enough to get by and also understand the majority of what is said.

The UK police have to be able to speak Polish among several other languages so why should it be any different in Poland?

You go to Germany and everyone I have met there speaks English, The same applies to Sweden (in fact they get offended when you ask them if you speak english as they assume that you know they do)

The european union really only applies to Poland when it comes to sending half your population to other countries to do menial jobs or poor quality building work, Or when it comes to getting grants to improve the infrastructure by building motorways that don't meet in the middle and train tunnels which won't fit a train through. (the rest goes on bribes making Poland one of the most expensive places to build roads in the world)

I actually can't believe the height that this arguement has gone to - it should be a case of... "yeah, some Polish Police are bastards... but you were breaking the law" and end of story... jeeeeeeeeeessssssusssss!!

Actually "the boys in blue" now have community support officers which are of all nationalities - including Poland... so I guess they could easily find someone to speak one of the languages you mentioned...

I think you need to be open to new ideas. True the UK is perhaps too multicultural... so much so that we are losing our identity, but I'm open to new ideas. Maybe if Poland was more 'open' to new ideas then people wouldn't get so damn offended all the time.

P.S. Mikey, are you hiding now? Has Marta come to fight with you? :p hehe!

Just seen this:


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Harry... i kneel before you - what a cool Polish guy :)

I wasn't criticizing your country, I merely gave an example of a similar situation in the UK. And I don't think it's very constructive to start lashing out at other people's private situation on a public Internet forum as the discussion is not about it.


But it doesn't apply to France, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Croatia and several more European countries...