Polish Road Tax ViaToll , a legal rip off before Euro 2012 ?

I read that a school bus with 52 tourists :French pupils on a school tour south of Krakow was asked by policemen to pay 4000 euros ( 16000 zl ) in Cash for this road tax called ViaToll / viatoll.pl)which any vehicle of 3.5 Tons must pay .

Since the school bus drivers did not have this sort of money with them, the kids were detained and no one could leave before the intervention of the French consulate and the payment of this tax by the school through bank transfer.

Poland beeing one of the biggest beneficiary of European subsidies, i think that this kind of behaviour from the authorities is appalling and unacceptable.

No to mention this tax which is going to hit hard the numerous tourists coaches ,buses, trucks which will have to use Polish roads during the Euro 2012.

What do you think ? Had you heard of this road tax before?

Polish officials do have a long way to go before they learn how to deal diplomatically with European countries for sure.

Detaining kids ....

all Polish buses, vans and trucks pay the tax on the roads that have the system installed and are thus paid sections - why should not European vehicles don't pay - btw the 4000 Euro must have been a penalty for not having the legally obligatory electronic aplliance that allows for the road tolls to be calculated not the toll itself

Where did you read it? LInk, please.

midilibre.fr/2012/04/06/des-lyceens-bloques-par-la-police-polonaise,482678.php

Yes Gumishu there are Road Toll taxes in many countries in Europe however it would be good if it was written somewhere that there is such a tax in Poland, we are not in Kenya for God 's sake normally the school bus should not have been able to circulate on the roads then.

The Polish Bureau of Tourism which is having a big campaign right now to promote tourism in Poland should clearly inform visitors on their website.

The quote from the French link:

However, this does not surprise a representative of the National Federation of carriers (FNTR). "Taxes are popping up all over Europe. It is hard to follow and carriers must register on a tax website in each country. Poland is only as practical as Spain, the payment of fines is in cash "

And the comment of one French forumer:

For me it is the bus company that tried to save money by cheating, then using its customers as hostages.

they should - it looks like they are not doing their job if they don't

pal - if I go to Germany and in all my lack of consciousness have more cigarettes than they allow for I will have to pay a fine if they catch me - btw lyceens are not little kids that can't wait a couple of hours - there is also the communication gap - sure the civilzation standards in Poland are lower and that police rely on direct penalties more than on tickets (because Polish authorieties are lousy at extracting the ticket fees from abroad I guess)

They don't .I don't know who takes care of the official communication but it is not even on Wikipedia where there is a complete list of European countries with Road taxes.

I don't believe that a bus company would risk loosing contracts with schools by taking the risk of not paying intentionaly the Polish Road taxes and having the children detained "as hostages".

On the contrary i think that Polish officials intentionally detained the children as hostages so they could get the money faster.

Don`t be silly. Polish buses are stopped and detained in France or Germany and when Poles protest, everybody is surprised anjd they advise to read local laws more carefully.

My advise to those French is: read local law.

Lwowska - what were they actually supposed to do with the children - let them walk towards Kraków? - catch hikes for them? setup a tent city? - and I repeat these were not little children - this was not a humanitarian disaster

when I was travelling to Italy and Austrian border guards stopped our coach because there were some doubts with one guy on the coach we waited some two hours before they finally let us in - did they care that people were not so comfortable on the bus (noone was even allowed out IIRC)

Gumishu , they could send the kids back at their expense and detain the bus ...
After all when we arrest a criminal we send him to jail and we pay for his food drinks for many years don't we ?

with a helicopter? it was not a question of not allowing the bus or the children in - it was the question of the bus company paying a fine - if the travel was cancelled it was not because Polish authorities made such a decision but the organizer of the trip - Polish police could have well expected that the French guys pay the fine and just continue they journey as planned - if a Polish coach is stopped by the police in France and not allowed to go further because of some technical problems does French government immediately provide a substitue transport or provide a substitute transport at all? every time?

I understand you have issues with Poland in general, with the state of the Polish state, with the state of many things in Poland but should it stop you from viewing things from different perspectives??

I don't have any issues with Poland.On the opposite i love it that's why i want to see things improving .

And why do you take any comment questionning how Polish officials behave as a personal attack?

Do you think you are yourself a representative of the whole nation or what?

Sorry but if you browse the forum you ll read a lot of comments about criticism of stupid or absurd things in happening in Poland and posted by many people who are like me.

There are great things and stupid things in Poland so yes it is important to see things from different perspectives.

I don't - I am just quite able to imagine things from the police perspective - and try to see things in perspective and fit them into a broader picture - the guys could have actually well acted out of ill will and not just the respect for the law - how do I know - the thing is if you expected much better from Polish police than what they actually did then it is unrealistic - but things won't change overnight and just because you want the change

and I am not affraid of criticism of Poland and I have never said there aren't things that can be better in Poland - a lot of things can be better - but it's mainly Polish peoply that need to see the need and possibility of change

Why criticise the country? Why not criticise the decision made by the individual police officer? Maybe the police officer behaved beyond his powers, maybe he didn't. Who knows?

If you break the law the Police will fine you, no matter what country. The students posted comments after the article making it quiet clear they knew it was a fine for the illegal behavior of the Driver.

Someone wrote about this event :"a school trip to Poland ? Why not schedule a school trip to Afganistan or Mali ?
Must be a corruped policeman as Hipis said because the damages on Polish Tourism will be catastrophic if the whole thing was legal.

the whole thing is perfectly legal - Polish truck or bus owners pay the same fines if they do not have the necessary electronic appliances on board - the thing is the whole project is badly designed, implemented and run - if you ask me I would tell you that the government is responsible - more precisely the current PO-PSL government (this government has not managed so far to make anything really functionally operational in Poland and this in 5 years)

What ******* subsidies are you talking about?All I read on this forum is Poland gets "subsidies","handouts" and stuff.WTF,Poland does not anything for free.The "subsidies" what you call them are the result of negotiations in which Poland agreed to (among other things) open the market for goods from EU,reduce own agricultural and industrial production.Thesel subsides cost Poles a lot of ******* money and jobs. Polish farmers don't get even half the amount of money western EU farmers get but still have to compete with them.Subsidies my a s s,get the f u c k out of here!

You are talking bollocks. Poland is even now negotiating 63-80billion Euro's for the next five years to bring its infrastructure up to date. In return Polish farmers export billions of euro's (and increasing rapidly) of food to the EU, it gives up nothing. What brilliantly successful industry has Poland had to give up because of the EU ?

You do realise that in France - you either pay on the spot or they take the vehicle? There are a *lot* of examples of the French causing trouble with British citizens - for instance, they are infamous for sitting on the A16 Coast Motorway and heavily fining British tourists on their way to Calais - over trivial hi-viz vest infringements.

There are prominent signs at *every* border crossing informing drivers that they must pay.


Why aren't you complaining about the German, Slovakian, Czech, Belgian, Dutch, etc schemes?


Anyone who crosses the Polish border would see the big signs.


Are the big signs not enough?


Indeed. Given the profilieration of schemes throughout Europe, the bus company would surely have known about the scheme. All to save a few Euro...


Actually, the project was well designed, implemented and run. Unlike the disaster in Slovakia, the scheme was built quickly and went on-line exactly when it should have. The boxes are very cheap (unlike the German/Slovak/Austrian ones!) and the system requires little effort from the users. The only real issue is that due to the way that the tolling laws were implemented in the 1990's - the boxes are only on GDDKiA roads and not private ones.


Why? I doubt France would be sending kids on their expense. You certainly don't see France sending car drivers without means of payment back home!

If you plan a trip to another country with your own mean of transportation, ,do you think it is wise not to check the country`s regulations about basic rules or road tax . For God`s sake every counry in EU has got its own special rules , we are not in Kenya .

For information about Highway toll Poland you can go here
dalnicni-znamky.com/en/highway-toll-poland.html


Yes, although it would be much easier if the laws were more accessible. But it shouldn't come as a surpprise to a French driver as they have the same thing.

Nice new roads :)


No, nice new roads have to be paid for.

Yeah all right the drivers should have paid for the tax but detaining a group of foreign tourist kids escorting them to spend a night at some pensjonat is a bit extreme.

And what was the foreign ambassador doing instead of sorting out the problem with local authorities ? What are those guys paid for?

The police was undoubtedly much more diligent and efficient at detaining those children than in making any effort to stop the big scams in real estate,or in mafia bars in Cracow.

The 16 000 zl fine seems huge but what it will cost the Ministry of Tourism in Poland and the industry of Tourism itself (hotels, cafes, restaurants etc)will amount to much more financial loss than what the 4000 euros they gained .

Thousands of people in Poland depend on the industry of Tourism and silly things like that don't help.

Sure, It is something your beloved PO fags created. And your xenophobic comments are laughable. Stick it... you know where.


Sure it is. They should have just left them near the road.

True.

I have been trying to look it up on some government sites and the only info is on Viatoll site.

viatoll.pl/en