Recently, a Reader called us:

It concerns the Paid Parking Zone. I am a resident of Wrocław and came to Bolesławiec for two weeks to care for my ill father because his previous caregiver had to leave. That caregiver is a resident of Bolesławiec and has a parking card.

The Wrocław resident was immediately fined with an “additional fee for failure to pay the parking charge” for parking on Opitza Street in Bolesławiec.

The man comments:

I walked along this street and did not find any sign informing me that it was a Paid Parking Zone. There is a parking meter, yes. But the regulations clearly state that a Paid Parking Zone must be marked with two signs. If there is no such signage, they have no right to collect money.

He added that a judgment in a similar case was issued by the Supreme Administrative Court in 2017.

The man reported the matter to the Paid Parking Zone office. He remarked sarcastically that someone had received good money for the signs displaying the regulations, while on Opitza there should be D-44 and P-18 signs with a plate indicating when charges apply, as has been arranged, among other places, in Wrocław. “Throughout the world, the rule is: I need to know where I am allowed to stop, and I need to know where I pay,” he added.

He also stressed that he intended to take the matter to court:

This is a violation of the regulations. I paid, but I will appeal.

Agnieszka Gergont, spokesperson for the Bolesławiec municipal authorities, explains:

A Paid Parking Zone operates in Bolesławiec. The zone covers a designated area in the centre of Bolesławiec—municipal public roads and areas located outside the road corridors of public roads that are owned by the Municipality of Bolesławiec.

All entrances to the Paid Parking Zone in Bolesławiec are marked with D-44 signs: “paid parking zone,” and all exits with D-45 signs: “end of paid parking zone.” Such signs are located on all roads bringing traffic into and out of the zone, on the following streets: Wybickiego, Komuny Paryskiej, Tyrankiewiczów, Parkowa, Cicha, Jasińskiego, Asnyka, Fabryczna, Żwirki i Wigury, Polna, Daszyńskiego, Ogrodowa, Grunwaldzka, Zgorzelecka, Górne Młyny and Kubika.

Opitza Street lies within the Paid Parking Zone. In Poland, not every street is a public road. Opitza Street, together with the courtyards adjoining it, is not a road with public-road status; it is an internal road, and a number of separate regulations apply there. Under the act, roads, cycle paths, car parks and areas intended for vehicle traffic that are not assigned to any category of public roads and are not located within the road corridor of such roads are internal roads. Therefore, if we drive along a road whose classification we are unsure of, and no road signs are visible, it may turn out that we are travelling on an “internal road.” Entry onto an internal road may—but need not—be indicated by an appropriate sign, and the same applies to leaving it. As a rule, road signs should not be encountered on an internal road. Signs indicating a prohibition or requirement are permitted, however—which is why there are boards displaying the payment regulations and informing drivers that charges must be paid.

She adds:

The situation described concerns exclusively the signage of roads with public-road status; Opitza Street does not have that status.