Police [our brushes with the law]
In the many trips we have made in Europe we have had very few incidents with the police. They have all turned out well with us and the police on good terms.
The photos are not ours, thought it not a good idea to take there photos. Thanks to Pexels and Upsplash for the free web site photos.
Austria
We were looking for a camperstop / aire in the country side and were having trouble locating it. I crossed over a railway crossing and then noticed a car behind us , as we were driving slow I pulled over into a side road to let the car pass. The car followed us down the road and two police officers stepped out. They couldn’t speak English and my German is very basic. They pointed to the railway crossing we had just crossed, then I understood what they were on about. At the crossing was a sign which didn’t look like a normal stop sign but apparently it was. I had not completely stopped and that was the reason why we had been pulled over. They looked at our papers for the van and also our passports. I apologised for my mistake and they gave me a warning and told me to be careful in the future. They were polite and wished up well on our journey.
Spain
We had been visiting our cousin in Spain at a seaside town of Denia where he has an apartment. He was staying there with his girlfriend and her sister while we were parked up at a large car park on the beach with some other motorhomes. For five nights all went well but on the sixth night at about 9pm there arrived 2 policemen on quad motorbikes with blue lights flashing. They asked us to move on and took down the numberplate details of all the motorhomes . This is the one and only time we have been asked to move on in all our travels. We had no choice but to move to a different location. A Dutch man told me later that is was a common practice in Spain to stop people setting up permanently.
Finland
We had arrived early in the morning in Helsinki on the ferry from Estonia heading in the direction of Hanko. This is a seaside town famous for its wooden buildings. I spotted a police van heading in our direction and thought nothing of it. Five minutes later the same van was behind us with its lights flashing. I pulled over to let it pass and realised that he was stopping us. Two handsome young policemen [so Jenny tells me] came to our motorhome and asked for our papers. They said it was just a routine check of foreign vehicles. They were very polite, spoke perfect English and told us to enjoy our travels in Finland..
Finland again !
It was about 11am in the morning when we were stopped at a breathalyser police stop. Of course the reading was zero and they waved us on. Who drinks before 11 in the morning?? Our tip is never drink and drive, wait to the end of the day when the driving is done. I enjoy a beer or wine but only after we have stopped and set up for the night.
Turkey
There were plenty of police at the side of the road when we were driving in Turkey. You would see one car first with a policeman in it then about 400 metres further there would another car with 2 policemen. I assumed the first tells the second about the cars approaching. We were pulled over once in 5 weeks and we think by mistake as when the first, a young policeman approached us then realised that we were foreigners and looked a bit confused. The second policeman then just waved us on.
Moldova
We were driving through a town in Moldova when I noticed 2 police cars and 5 police men on the side of the road. As we passed them I heard a whistle and a policeman indicated for us to pull over.
I was not speeding as the road wasn’t the best so I couldn’t think of what the problem could be, you always think the worst and you do hear of stories about corrupt police in some countries. I pulled over and got out of the motorhome and waited for the policeman to walk over to where we were. His English was not great but we could hold a conversation. He asked a question that we have heard many times in our travels “Are you really from Australia”, you see our motorhome has a large sticker on the front with a kangaroo and an Australian flag, on the sides we have several kangaroos jumping and on the back we have an Australian road sign with a kangaroo on it [we are not subtle].
He had pulled us over for the simple reason that he was curious, Moldova does not get a lot of travellers driving through, we only saw one other motorhome during the time we were there, and to have a motorhome with people from Australia must be a strange sight. He wished us well in our travels and I gave him a kangaroo key ring [is that classed as a police bribe?] and we were on the road again. All the people we met in Moldova were extremely friendly and curious as to why we were there, even the police.
Where is Moldova ?
When we talk about Moldova most people don’t know where it is. It is between Romania and the Ukraine. Its a place that does not get many visitors. We only saw one other motorhome the whole time we were there.
Summary
Six encounters with the law with no real problems. But we have heard other stories where people have been harassed by the police. I read one blog where they were pulled over 3 times in Romania. We rarely saw any while we were there. Our friends Helen and John were driving in Serbia and a policeman pulled them over and told them that they had to pay a fine for an infringement that they couldn’t understand. At the time they were driving a French lease car and they felt like they were being targeted and that the police only wanted money. John insisted that they go to the nearest police station where he would pay the fine and get a receipt. The policeman asked again for money but John stood his ground. The policeman then told them to go on. The policeman obviously just wanted a quick buck and backed down when John wanted to go to the police station where he would be caught out.
Our tip is don’t drink and drive, always be polite and courteous when dealing with the police. Obey the road rules, don’t speed ,remember you shouldn’t be in a hurry to get anywhere you are on holidays.
