According to the statement, after the trip organizers informed the Lithuanian embassy, it asked the Polish road transport inspectorate for explanations. The service told the embassy the Polish officials had acted in accordance with existing procedures.
Lithuanian daily Lietuvos Rytas reports that 23 schoolchildren from Utena, eastern Lithuania, were on the way back from a school trip to Poland, when they were stopped and were made to spend a night in a parking lot without any shelter and WC.
Polish officials say the bus breached electronic road tax procedures when it went through the system's checkpoint and traveled 60 kilometers with no credit 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.
The bus driver was convinced there was still money in the account. He tried to ask an officer to check if it was not a system error, but was not allowed to.
The bus driver was told to go to a town around 100 kilometers away as it was the nearest place with a bank card reader. All travelers got there only at around 1 AM. Children and accompanying adults were told to disembark. The person in charge of the trip called the police and asked for help as children were kept in unsanitary conditions. The police, according to Lithuanians, could not help them and left.
The bus company was informed of the incident and the fine and transferred money within half an hour. However it took until 3 AM for the bank to process the transaction. Officials who were able to accept the money came only at 10 AM.
