Polish Human Rights Defender intervenes at Ministry of Infrastructure after disabled vehicles with valid parking permits are incorrectly towed.
Trap for “Blue Envelopes”
The Office of the Human Rights Defender (RPO) has received complaints from people with disabilities whose vehicles were towed despite parking in designated spaces and possessing valid permits. Municipal officers, citing road traffic regulations, classify vehicles as “unmarked” when the parking card:
Regulations Full of Loopholes
According to Article 130a(1)(4) of the law, vehicles are removed when they are not marked with a parking card. The problem is that the regulations do not explicitly state that towing also applies when the card is in the vehicle but placed incorrectly.
RPO Demands Changes. What About Citizen Rights?
Piotr Mierzejewski from the RPO Office points out that current law is imprecise. Drivers are unclear whether “unmarked” refers only to the complete absence of a card or also to its incorrect placement. In his assessment, the current wording of regulations fails to meet the requirements of clarity and communicativeness, leading to arbitrary decisions by authorities.
What Next for Towing Vehicles?
The RPO Office has submitted an official request to the Ministry of Infrastructure. The demand is clear: the ministry must investigate the problem and consider legislative changes that would eliminate ambiguities. The goal is to protect people with disabilities from the significant costs of towing in situations where their rights are authentic and the error resulted only from careless placement of the document behind the windshield.
