Frustrating the tourist
Crossing the Polish border at Zgorzelec is a really annoying experience; we have found queues of between 30 minutes to one hour but have heard that the delay can be much worse.
It's aggravated by the fact that you can cross from France to Belgium, then to Germany without a single manned border crossing. You're hardly aware that you have passed from one country to another, which is wonderful when you're travelling long distances.
The whole exercise seems to be pointless and simply frustrates and annoys tourists. A delay of 1 hour in a 12 hour drive can be severely aggravating.
Insult is added to injury when you discover at the border itself one man glancing at travel documents and five others standing around doing nothing much. It wouldn't be so bad if documents were electronically scanned to monitor activities but a glance is totally pointless.
One our last occasion there was only one lane open when they appeared to have plenty of staff to open another.
Filling German coffers
The border post is manned by both German and Polish guards. Germans checking entry into Germany, Poles checking entry into Poland.
All the Germans seem to be bothered about is to catch people taking in more than their limit of 200 cigarettes into Germany so that they can fine them and fill the German Chancellor's coffers. |
Approaching the border guards at Zgorzelec on the Polish side
It's even more annoying when in your frustration you do eventually cross the border only to be fined by the police for supposedly speeding. No sign of any cemras and no evidence produced. Perhaps there are speed signs, we will check next time, but there is nothing of the courtesy that one finds in other European countries.
On arrival in Dover, there is a sign informing visitors of British speed limits on roads.
Polish Tourist office please take note and do something about this if you want to attract tourists to Poland.
Speed limits in Poland
| In towns & built-up areas: |
37 mph |
60 kph |
| Residential areas |
12 mph |
20 kph |
| Motorways |
68 mph |
110 kph |
| Other roads |
56 mph |
90 kph |
Please note that speed limits are generally lower than in the UK. They can also drop to very low at pedestrian crossings. These can be dimly lit at times, so do be careful.
Other differences in driving between the UK and Poland is the use of horns is forbidden in built-up areas.
Recommended petrol and food stop
A value for money place to stop for petrol and food is a couple of miles over the border into Poland: You will see Shell and BP petrol stations next to each other on your left.
Drive behind the BP station, past the lorry park to the truckers restaurant. Portions are larger than most truckers can manage and some even bring a bag to take left over portions of chicken with them. Half a roast chicken, potatoes and veg costs around £3. There is also parking exclusively for cars to the right of this restaurant alongside a paved garden area with tables with umbrellas. |
