Parking in Poznań without a valid ticket?

Hi everyone,

I have a car with Austrian driving plate and I am going to spend a couple of weeks in Poznań. Do you know what happens if I park on the streets without a valid ticket? Will I simply get a fine or I can expect a wheel clamp (blockade on wheels)? If only a fine, is there any way to track foreign cars and send the bill to Austria?

Thanks

Depends where you park. You could well come back and find that your car has been towed (and getting it back then costs a heck of a lot more than the small change you pay for parking).


In theory there is. In practice you'd have to rack up more than a couple of tickets in order for the authorities to bother.

Although with that said you do need to remember that some Polish prosecutors are more than happy to have European Arrest Warrants issued for very minor crimes (such as paying 50zl too little for a second-hand cell-phone, not paying for a dessert at a restaurant due to it not being of acceptable quality, failing to pay a mortgage off and thus having one's house seized and sold, etc, etc), so you might just want to buy parking tickets anyway, epsecially if the car is registered in your name

Your best bet is just to find a car park in the centre and pay for a weekly/monthly ticket. There are a lot of car parks in/around the centre, and they aren't expensive. The most expensive one I know is about 90-95 euro for a month.

I pretty much doubt that a parking fine is consider a criminal offence in Poland therefore issuing an EAW is very unlikely. Also, I do not plan to park in prohibited space or way.


That sounds great! I might consider this option. Do you know if it's possible to get free parking in Poznań for locals? If so, do I need to have zameldowanie for Poznań? Coz I'm registered in the other part of Polska.

I forgot to add to the initial post that I'm not a bloody foreigner who would like to take advantage of his alien status :) I don't mind paying for any service what I use, but in my opinion paying for public parking is a legalised pillage by the state / local authorities since I do not get anything in return for my money.

First rule of Poland : assume nothing about what is and what isn't seen as criminal. The justice system in Poland is widely accepted as being broken - hence the abuse of EAW's and general incompetence of the courts/prosecutors. It's unlikely that they'll chase you to Austria at the moment (there's no data sharing between Poland and Austria) - but do you really want to have unpaid parking fines hanging over you if Austria/Poland agree exchange of driver information?

As for parking fines being considered criminal - as I understand it, parking isn't decriminalised - if you get a ticket and don't pay it, they're quite within their rights to tow you away.


Nope, no free parking unless you're registered locally. I believe the car documents must also be registered to the local address. The best bet is really just to pay up for the guarded parking in the centre - if you tell me where you'd like to park roughly, I'll tell you where you can park.


At least in Poznan, the paid for parking exists so that there are parking spaces to park in. It would be complete chaos were parking to be free - Sundays are a great example of this, as are warm weeknights.

Yeah, I know, but I always forget about this. :-\


I'd like to park in Jezyce, in ulica Polna. Btw, is Jezyce still a dodgy area or it's a bit outdated opinion?


Is there a webpage where I can check this? I've heard something about an €80 limit but it might be only for speeding tickets.

Outdated opinion, it's becoming gentrified very very quickly. Lazarz is still dodgy, but Jezyce is pretty much quiet these days - there was a murder a few months ago, but there was some history between the murdered person and the murderer I believe.

As I recall, there's a parking lot close to Polna on ul. Dabrowskiego - but don't quote me on this. There should certainly be something close by - and in that part of town, you should be able to get two weeks parking for 200zl at the very very most (and most likely less). There's a car park here - goo.gl/maps/mwwl1 - that should be available for semi-long stay parking. There's also one here -goo.gl/maps/vt4xc - that will certainly be able to accommodate you.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EUCARIS

As you can see from the table on the page, Poland has no current interest in sharing data. It doesn't mean that they can't chase you, but in reality, Poland isn't going to bother you in Austria for the time being. The real issue comes if Poland does start to share data - you would find yourself unable to drive not only in Poland, but also in any country that Poland shares data with.