Bus ticket fine in Poland (Warsaw) - what if I don't pay the fine?

Hello!

I've recently decided to visit Warsaw for my vacations, and of course i rode a bus, unfortunately though during my drive an inspector decided to show up, and also unfortunately for me i didn't had a ticket since i didn't know where to buy one and i didn't had my credit card with me to buy one from the machines which for some strange reason they only accept credit cards which i was not carrying with me, he then dragged me out and asked me for my ID card which i provided him with my passport, he wrote my last name wrong but everything else was right like passport number and my first name, he only filled those he gave me my fine and then i left.

What happens if i decide not to pay for that ticket since i will be leaving the countries in a few days and i do not want to get into the trouble of converting euro to zlotty yada yada yada

Thanks!

Are you from an EU country? If so pay it, or you will be hit by the costs of a Polish court decision and possibly court and enforcement costs in your home country. These are likely to be many times the cost of the original ticket.

How do i pay? Can i pay in euros?

No, in PLN. Go to a kantor or use a cash machine. You can probably pay by card too.

And where do i pay exactly? They only gave me a fine ticket and a bank account. Is there anyway that i can pay in cash in an office or something?

There are offices in several of the tube stations. Ratusz Arsenal, Centrum (in the mid level gallery between street level and platform level - use the central entrance if you're coming from the south), Pl. Wilsona and others.

There can be queues.

Merged:

Bus Ticket Fine

Hello everyone!

Recently I received a bus ticket fine before 2 hours of leaving Warsaw. I didn't have any money on me to buy a ticket and I was going to my apartments to get the baggage and go to the train station.

The question is, will it be okay if I left Warsaw and didn't pay the bus ticket fine?

And my country is not in the European Union.

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Bus ticket fine in Warsaw

We two guys went from Germany to Warsaw Poland ten days ago. The day we arrived there at Modlin Airport, we bought train ticket to Chopin airport and were told by the ticket office that we don't have to Stamp/Validate our tickets. If the ticket inspector will come, he/she will do by himself. so same thing happened and checker came in the middle of journey and stamped our ticket with his machine. Then we bought bus ticket from Airport to City center (centrum) to get to our hotel. The moment I got in the bus, I asked one guy do we have to validate or get this ticket stamped. if yes, then from where and how? He replied, you didn't validate your ticket ? As we and that guy to whom I asked got in the bus from the same stop. Anyways, I replied No and I need your help to validate it. He said show me your passport and now you will have to pay 338 polish zloty penalty. In short, he got us down from bus in a very insulting way and called the police. As I refused to pay the penalty fee.

In about 15--20 mins, Police came and snatched our passports and refused to listen to us. After denial of multiple requests, we both paid in total of 338 polish zloty and then got our passport back.

Just needs to know is it justified to behave or ripe-off like that ? Furthermore, one of us is a PhD student but the payment was made from my credit card and I am not a student. It bothers me a lot to pay the fine in this way. Any sincere advice would be appreciated please.

So you had no vaild ticket, wasted time of police that might be needed elsewhere and now expect... what ? A hug ?


Requests of... ?

ztm.waw.pl/?c=110&l=2
scroll down for information about fines

A normal fine is over 260 zł. If you pay the ticket inspector it goes down to 160 zł. That makes 320 zł for two people but they had to call the police which usually makes the fee higher - much higher so you didn't pay that much.

And you need to show your ID.
Didn't you get a receipt?

In Britain it used to be that you got a criminal record if you were caught without a ticket. I guess it's now a spot fine as well, to cut costs. The criminal record bit concentrated the mind though!

Still is in some cases, though there are some discussions about decriminalising it completely. It's nonsense that it can be seen as a criminal rather than civil matter.


Getting the police involved is actually a wise idea, because there's no guarantee that they're genuine inspectors. At least in Poznań and Wrocław, there's no additional fee for doing so, and from what I remember, there were issues in Berlin with fake inspectors.

I don't know what it's like in Warsaw but where I am bus inspectors need to inform the driver on entering the bus (he blocks the kasowniki) and show their IDs.

There's also an additional fee for calling the police and changing the bus route. On two occassions I have seen a bus drive to local police stations (and changing its route) because someone wouldn't accept a fine. Imagine how thrilled the rest of the passengers were.

Merged:

I got a fine for not having a bus ticket in Warsaw, Poland - what can I do?

Hello

I'm a tourist traveling in warsaw for the second day after I landed yesterday. I bought the ticket from the ticket machine for the bus, after I paid I got the white paper from the machine and I thought that is the ticket. I didn't know that the ticket has to be the small one only.

I got on the bus without validating it cause that white paper doesn't seem to fit in. Then after a few minutes, the ticket inspector comes, I give her the white paper and she didn't say anything. She's just busy with fining the lady in front of me.

After arrived at the stop, the inspecter got off the same stop as me and she said that I have to pay for the fine for 160 zloty even if I said that I got the white paper. She said that it was just the receipt and I don't have the ticket. I said that I don't know, i already paid for it and all I got is just the white paper and it isn't even in English. She doesn't listen and said that if I don't pay now, I have to pay for 260 zloty something. I told her I want to go to the office cause I don't trust her, so she issued the fine for me and it was 190 zloty and I have to pay at the office instead.

Is there anything I can do? I didn't know that there's only one type of ticket which is the small one. The last time that I buy the ticket I didn't get the white paper. This isn't fair at all. How was I supposed to know?

What if I don't pay for the fine? Is anything going to happen to me? I'm not from EU country or UK and I'm planning to go to other countries around here by bus within the few days. My flight back home isn't from Warsaw too, I'm planning to fly back home from Berlin. Are they going to record anything in my Schengen? Please help.

Thank you

No.


Pay it.

Sometimes in some machines the receipt comes out from the front slot and the original ticket falls in a slot below the machine,so my guess is that you picked the receipt and didnt pick the ticket,so the inspector was right.I had the same mistake once but luckily no inspector caught me.

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Very unfair ticket fine in Poland, can i not pay?

Hello.

I bought a 20 min ticket, and some guard came at 19 min, plus 2 or 3 minutes of asking other people and it passed the time.

In my country there is no 20 min system, and i didn't mean to do anything wrong.

I don't wanna pay the fine, because i got no money and it's unfair.

Can they truly do me anything when I go back to my country? I am from the EU

20 min bus ticket

Most likely no,but you do risk to be caught if you ever come back.But why not pay the fine?I would obey and respect the law of any foreign land.

Why didn`t you leave the bus before the ticket expired?

Of course to save 1.10Pln,full price of the ticket.

I asked to know the proceedings today. In communist times, when tickets inspectors entered the bus or tram and started their quest for free riders, the doors were blocked temporarily and nobody could leave. But time tickets were unavailable then.

Now the inspectors in civil dress take out there ID cards from under the shirts hanging from there neck and start checking tickets with a electronic machine(all you have to do is scan the ticket with there scanner) and when the Tram/Bus/Metro stops they stand by the random door and scan tickets.If you are caught travelling without or invalid ticket you can pay then by credit card or take the ticket issued on your identification to pay later.I cant tell you the amount of fine as I always follow the law lol except on PF lol.

Hai,
Actually I was caught by the ticket inspector for not having my student id card. Actually I had the reduced ticket with me but I forgot to take the student card with me and the inspector charged me a fine of 200zl which I need to pay within 7 days. What should I do inorder not to give the amount ?

Probably go to there office and show them your id card.If you dont have time I would pay the fine and then claim my 200 Zlots back by mail.

In Warsaw?

Go to one of the ZTM offices (called 'Punkty Obsługi Pasażerów' - the addresses are in the link below) with your student card and other ID. It's best not to go to the ones in the city centre since there is often a queue of people waiting to do the same thing.

wtp.waw.pl/punkty-obslugi/

Merged:

What If I don't pay the bus inspector fine?

I am studying in Finland but I had an Erasmus internship in Warsaw, Poland for 3 months. I got fined by the bus inspector because the one-minute exceeded and I don't have any money in the account. What will happen if I was not able to pay the fines because I don't have any money left when getting back to Finland?

Probably nothing.

They won`t send anybody after him to Finland.
However, if he is caught again in Poland in the future, the ticket inspector will call the police and he will be detained until he pays.

Hello, today I was going home and when I saw the tickets inspectors I immediately bought the bus ticket for 45 minutes while I was like 10 minutes away. But when the ticket inspector came to me I was confused and showed him the other invalid ticket that I bought earlier that day and he give me fine. But while he was writing my details I saw that I was confused with the valid ticket and when I showed him he said it's too late and gave me a fine of 142zloty.so what should I do?

Make a complaint.
The best way is to go by person to the office indicated on the fine ticket and show your valid ticked, along with the fine paper. If there's an email, you can send them the scans and explain the whole situation.

I wonder why this inspector did not accept your proper ticket, what it means "it's too late".. Or maybe you bought it during inspection?