Sobering-up stations Pursuant to § 10 of the Ordinance on sobering-up stations, persons admitted to sobering-up stations or similar establishments may be given a  set of substitute clothes for the duration of their stay. However, the above provision does not require every person admitted to the station to undress or change into substitute clothes. It explicitly stipulates that provision of substitute clothes to patients of the stations is only an option which should be used in the case of threat to security, or when the own clothes of the patient are very dirty or damaged. In such cases, the European Court of Human Rights reiterates that, as in the case of strip searches, the requirement to undress should result from the need to ensure security.155 According to the representatives of the Mechanism, the procedure followed in numerous sobering up stations, consisting in requiring the admitted persons to undress, is inappropriate. All safety measures (here undressing), which are interfering so strongly in human freedom and privacy, should be regulated in an act and should be confined to the necessary minimum and exceptional situations. In one of the stations156, substitute clothes given to the homeless patients did not ensure intimacy. The clothes were made of transparent interlining which does not mask intimate parts of the body. The station did not provide substitute footwear as well. The recommendation was made to eliminate these irregularities. From among the visited stations, five did not require the patients to undress157, but one required them to take off their shoes and hand over the things that may be used in an inappropriate way, such as a trouser belt158. Since the said station does not provide substitute clothes or footwear, the patients must move around the premises wearing socks instead of shoes. As regards the attitude to and the treatment of patients by the personnel, in one of the stations159 the patients complained to the visiting team that the person on duty was rude and his reaction to their requests and questions boiled down to threatening them with strapping. The analysis of CCTV recordings in another station revealed inappropriate behaviour of one of the carers who pushed a patient dressed only in the underwear from a bench and dragged him by hand along the floor. Regrettably, a similar situation occurred in another station where a woman was dragged by hand along the floor. In the opinion of the See judgment of the ECHR of 31 March 2009 in the case of Wiktorko v. Poland, Application No 141612/02. 156 Sobering-up Station in Warsaw. 157 Sobering-up Station in Olsztyn, Sobering-up Station in Suwałki, Sobering-up Station in Nowy Sącz, Sobering-up Station in Katowice. 158 Sobering-up Station in Olsztyn. 159 Sobering-up Station in Zamość. 155 73