my experience of traffic police is somewhat different to the uk cops. on a recent trip we got lost and saw a parked police car so asked for directions, not only did they oblige, they escorted us through the whole town to the road we needed and gave clear directions to our destination, I thought this was really nice on their part, despite lack of english they were able to tell us where we needed to be, so nice.

The next day we were pulled over in our village and asked for documents, on production, they asked if my partner supported aston villa ( hes from birmingham) and all had a good laugh. so refreshing from the normal straight laced police i have encountered from the uk police who seem bent on collecting default points.

whats your experience of bulgarian police.

The bulgarian police seem very layed back,not a lot seems to bother them,we have been pulled over quite a few times but when they hear our accent they just wave us on,what makes us laugh is that where in the Uk would you ever get pulled over by a copper smoking a fag with his hat on the back of his head. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Well after my recent accident...all i can say is that the police over here in BG are great....50 leva makes all problems go away.

the accident was not my fault, i got hit by an old guy in a lada....he was doing a u turn on a duel carrige way....but i had forgot to put my documents in the car....NOW I KNOW TO CARRY THEM AT ALL TIMES....another lesson learned.

corruption...its great...lol.

bobski.

You were lucky, we were fined 100 leva for not having our documents with us. If we hadn't produced the cash, our son, who was driving, was going to be taken to the police station in VT! All in all it was quite a frightening experience, especially for my 82 year old mother. Like you, Bobski, we always carry our documents with us when in Bulgaria. By the way, I don't suppose the cash went further than the two cops pockets!

Scunnered wrote:

You were lucky, we were fined 100 leva for not having our documents with us. If we hadn't produced the cash, our son, who was driving, was going to be taken to the police station in VT! All in all it was quite a frightening experience, especially for my 82 year old mother. Like you, Bobski, we always carry our documents with us when in Bulgaria. By the way, I don't suppose the cash went further than the two cops pockets!

Correct me if I am wrong, but I am under the impression that you don't pay the cop's anymore, you get a ticket and you pay at the police station or a post office and if you don't I think your details will come up on the computer at the airport

We didn't know that at the time, and I can tell you they were very intimidating! We knew the whole thing was a scam, but what were our options? It was the last day of our stay in Bulgaria, and when one policeman stood guarding our car with us in it and our son was with the other one in the police car, believe you me you find the money somehow! Not an experience we would like to repeat.

my friend got caught, he had had a drink, he says one but who knows, paid a 100 levs but still lost his licence, i understand if you live here you do not pay on the spot fines, only holidays makers pay this, but again who knows what is right.

Barry has been pulled over twice for speeding and both times the police were great. He wasnt going at great guns but still too fast. They were really nice though I think he played the dumb Brit.