Lithuanian Foreign Ministry calls for tougher control of passenger carriers following incident in Poland

"At a meeting of an inter-institutional panel on 18 June, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked responsible institutions to toughen control of companies engaged in foreign tourism and international passenger transport. Lithuanian citizens have to receive high-quality foreign tourism and international transport services," the ministry writes in a response to BNS.

The Lithuanian foreign ministry also said it had received a response to its diplomatic note from Poland's Ministry of Transport, Construction and Marine Economy regarding the bus incident involving Lithuanian children.

"It says officers from the transport inspectorate acted pursuant to existing procedures during the detention and put every effort to ensure that as little as possible inconvenience was caused for passengers of the bus during the vehicle inspection. (…) The letter also says the Polish inspectors, first of all, suggested taking the passengers to a hotel, but the driver asked permission to stay inside the bus due to the lack of funds," the Polish ministry said.

The Lithuanian foreign ministry said it had handed over the information received to the individuals concerned and informed them about ways to defend their rights in Polish courts pursuant to existing laws in the neighboring country.

On 18 May, 23 schoolchildren from Utena, eastern Lithuania, were on the way back from an excursion in Poland when they were stopped and were made to spend a night in a parking lot without any shelter and WC.

Polish officials said the bus breached the electronic road tax procedure as it went through the system's seven gates travelling the distance of around 60 kilometers with no money in the account of the electronic device on the bus.

The debt amounted to around 30 zloty (EUR 6.9). The bus was detained until a 21,000-zloty fine was paid.