eflow

Xennon

Passed through the M50 toll a few times last week, my better half offered to look after it for me, rang them, was told in no uncertain terms that she could not pay my eflow bill, that I would have to do it, since she wasnt the registered owner of the vehicle.

Not only that but they seem to have access to my details. Now I can see why they do, its how their system operates (or doesnt in some cases) but Im not sure if Im comfortable with a private company having access to my registration details.

Any others a little concerned about this??

L1011

Any company that pays enough money can get access to the NVDF. Unfortunate fact of driving in Ireland.

aphex™

Xennon wrote: »

Any others a little concerned about this??

Yep. They also shipped our details into another country.

Will be asking the information commissioner to look into it and the minister concerned to explain himself in a few weeks.

timmywex

Joke of a company, they send me statements every month, when i use the fricken m50 about 4 times a year maybe!

Theyve spent more on postage to me than anything else!

patrickc

timmywex wrote: »

Joke of a company, they send me statements every month, when i use the fricken m50 about 4 times a year maybe!

Theyve spent more on postage to me than anything else!

sign up to get the bills online..

lau1247

why won't they let you pay??

my dad goes through the m50 the odd time.. I always pay on his behalf.. I wasn't told that it was a problem

jaffa20

I just pay online with laser but it's really annoying that it doesn't tell you how much you owe them when you enter your reg no. You have the enter it yourself.

Xennon

I've no idea why they wouldn't accept payment from my other half, it seemed bizarre tbh, but they were adamant that she could not pay on my behalf even though it was coming from our joint account.

Regarding the information held by the NVDF, I'm very concerned over this. Aphex, if you need any support on this give me a shout. Theres a limit to how much intrusion I feel comfortable with when it comes to my personal life.

groomek

When ever ive rang up to pay the only information they have asked for is my reg and my credit card details.They dont care who pays once it gets paid.

Are you sure your other half even rang up?

Xennon

Trust me m8, this wouldnt be an issue if she hadnt, it was because of this 'the registered owner has to pay' condition that it came up at all.

I'm not too bothered about the idiocy of the tellers, they're just following a script, however I'm more bothered about how a private company can get details of what I own/drive. Just because they're contracted by the NRA, surely doesnt give them access to our information?

O.A.P

My parents went on holliday a few months ago and while there my father got ill and spent 3 weeks in hospital. I went to Dublin to bring their car home and to avoid paying the parking charges at Dublin airport. When he had recovered they flew to Shannon and I picked them up, anyway my mother got a bill from eflow for six euros I think which she paid in a shop in the nearest town. Two weeks later they send her another bill for 48 euro because she was over the 14 days allowed to pay the first bill well she was not in the country so how could she pay a bill she had not yet received and she did pay as soon as she could. She has the reciept and as far as I know they want 42 euro for late payment so it looks like they want to be paid twice for the toll. When she rang they said they wanted paying and thats all they have to say on the matter. My mother would do time first I doubt that Id let it go that far but I think the law is on her side or am I wrong? Rant over

demanufactured

I wouldnt pa that 48 euros , tell em to go **** them slves with their tolls.
i havent payed for tolls in over a year. , what are thay gonna do , take my car?

O.A.P

demanufactured wrote: »

I wouldnt pa that 48 euros , tell em to go **** them slves with their tolls.
i havent payed for tolls in over a year. , what are thay gonna do , take my car?

Yes that has been done more or less but they really dont need this siht just now. They are both old age pensioners and have had a hard life and now that my dad is sick the last thing they need is another worry.

Del2005

Xennon wrote: »

Passed through the M50 toll a few times last week, my better half offered to look after it for me, rang them, was told in no uncertain terms that she could not pay my eflow bill, that I would have to do it, since she wasnt the registered owner of the vehicle.

That's strange. I've 3 cars registered to my video account and only 1 is registered to me.

Xennon

Next time we'll just ask for a supervisor type person I guess....

Still though, not happy with them having access to registration info.......

brav

As regards a car not registered in your name, you can make payments for any car, but because of data protection they can(should) only talk about the account or trips to the registered owner. But if you just called up to pay for 2 trips for such a car it would be no problem. However if I call up giving a reg for a car not in my name and ask what time I went through etc they should refuse to say and only speak to the registered owner.

As regards the NVDF, its the same all over Europe isn't it? In England they have the same anyway as well as if a European car drives on the toll or you drive on a French toll they send the bill to the registered owner

prististanice

As long as you pay by 20.00 the following evening then they don't need to access your registration information.

The poster above me hit the nail on the head. Anyone can make a payment for any registration. The thing is, most Irish people are used to being told what they owe or what they must do as opposed to telling someone else what they want to pay for. You have to be aware of the amount of journeys you've made and when you've made them.

Because it is such a sensitive data protection issue, it's inadvisable to ring up without any information, i.e. "I have no idea when I traveled. I have no idea how many journeys I made. How much do I owe?" In this case, the person you're talking to will be telling you something and will have to give out information. If you're not the registered owner of the car, you're not entitled to that information - even if it were you who was driving the car.

Think of it logically: you're a boss whose employee called in sick on Monday. You don't believe that he was sick. So you ring up eFlow and say "I think I have gone through the tollbridge on Monday but I am not sure - can you confirm that for me?" If there were no data protection requirements, the person on the phone could say "Oh yes - there are 2 journeys from Monday." Then the employer has been given information about someone's movements that he is not entitled to.

Or, perhaps another example: You are a man who thinks his wife is having an affair. You suspect her of having an affair with a man who lives right by the toll so you ring eFlow and ask how many times your wife's car has passed over the toll in the past 2 years. Now, while morally the husband might have a right to know about his wife's movements, from a legal point of view, she has a right to privacy to carry on as she pleases and have her private data respected and protected by those organisations that hold it.


Therefore, if you would like to ring and pay for a toll, you should be TELLING the person on the phone what you want (ESPECIALLY if you are not the registered owner of the car). i.e. "*I* made 2 trips. This is when I made the trips. Therefore how much would I owe?" This way, you've provided all the information to the person on the phone and they're not going to need to ask you anything or divulge any information.


Think of an example: You are an employee who told his employer you urgently needed time off work to attend a funeral abroad but in actual fact were going to an interview for a new job. That interview required you to go through the toll and you forget to pay. When you come back your employer asks can he borrow your car for a day and you agree. He passes through the toll and forgets to pay. A week later he rings (without a penalty letter) to pay. If he states "Last Wednesday I went through the toll twice around this time" then the agent can legitimately tell him "Ok, that would cost this amount of money" and take a payment. Therefore there is no need to give out any information and the employer is not told of other journeys made in that vehicle. However, if there were no data protection requirements and the employer rings and says "I made some journeys within the last 2 weeks but can't remember when or how many", the agent could simply say "there are 4 open journeys on the system on these dates at these times." This would be breaching the employee's right to privacy and could alert his employer to the fact that he was not out of the country when he had told him he would be.

Now what about the employer's right to privacy? If he forgets to pay then a penalty notice will be sent to the employee with the date and time of his boss's journeys. But this does not necessarily breach the boss's privacy as after all, the employee is the legal owner of the vehicle and has a right to know what use was made of his vehicle when he lent it.