Massive Toll Fine?

Fittle

I won't bore any of you with the details of the reasons I didn't pay my original toll amount (6euro) just over 9weeks ago, but I have in front of me an invoice from their solicitors, stating I owe 289.00euro for this same trip. Yes, I did get a reminder during the 9weeks which increased the original bill from 6euro to 45 euro, which I didn't pay.

But surely they can't increase the cost of the toll in such a short space of time?

Tom Young

They can. All of them are published and notified on the roads, etc.

Fittle

Have they been taken to task on this at all?

It seems incredible that a 6euro toll rises to a 289euro toll in such a short space of time?? It doesn't even state that I am being 'fined' - just that it's a toll violation.

neilthefunkeone

From eflow site..

http://www.eflow.ie/faq/BEF.MGCO.REC.117/#P_F

What to do if you received a letter from Pierse & Fitzgibbon solicitors or Euro Parking Collections

When using the M50 toll road we request payment before 8:00pm the following day, failure to do so will incur an extra penalty charge of €3.00.

There is a time period of 14 days to pay these charges, after this time allowance an extra late penalty of €39.50 is charged. Failure to pay the full amount due within a further 56 days will result in an additional €98.00 penalty. If you still have not paid the total amount due, legal proceedings will be initiated. If a toll remains unpaid beyond the full time period, then it will be passed to the National Roads Authority solicitors, Pierse & Fitzgibbon. If they contact you in relation to a toll by letter, then you must contact them as eFlow will not be in a position to assist you with this toll.

Please contact them on 0818 313 100 (from Rep. of Ireland) or 00 353 68 50967 (from Northern Ireland, UK and overseas) to discuss the status of any unpaid journey. Please be sure to forward all relevant information regarding the journey(s) in question to them as eFlow are not in a position to handle these particular cases.

ANXIOUS

Does anyone know how this works? Basically i've prob circa 50 tolls that i never paid. I rang up one day to pay them, the women was shocked when i told her i was never contacted by their solicitors. She suggested i contact them :P.

RedXIV

If you talk to them they are usually pretty good with this stuff. My gf has twice gotten these massive fines and had them knocked down to 12 quid twice.

Worth ringing them?

godtabh

neilthefunkeone wrote: »

From eflow site..

http://www.eflow.ie/faq/BEF.MGCO.REC.117/#P_F

Have i missed something but that doesnt add up to €289

Fittle

I haven't rang them yet - I just wanted to see what the general consensus was on these fines. It was my first time using the toll to be honest - would you believe I won 'free' tickets to see the Ireland team training at Tallaght Stadium. 'Free' tickets that are now costing me 300euro!!! Though the little fella did meet Robbie Keane!!

Fittle

godtabh wrote: »

Have i missed something but that doesnt add up to €289

I have the letter in front of me - it says amount due 144.50..this is the second letter I got as I got the first one on Friday for the same amount. I foolishly thought they were duplicates but when I read them again, one is for northbound and the other for southbound:mad:

ANXIOUS

Fittle wrote: »

I haven't rang them yet - I just wanted to see what the general consensus was on these fines. It was my first time using the toll to be honest - would you believe I won 'free' tickets to see the Ireland team training at Tallaght Stadium. 'Free' tickets that are now costing me 300euro!!! Though the little fella did meet Robbie Keane!!

Not a chance you'll have to pay anywhere near this amount. Iirc their has only been one court case over unpaid tolls. The women in question got approx a 90% mark down on what she owed. She ended up paying less than the actually tolls. She went through the toll for four years communting up to dundalk.

neilthefunkeone

godtabh wrote: »

Have i missed something but that doesnt add up to €289

x2 trips perhaps!

Fittle

ANXIOUS wrote: »

Not a chance you'll have to pay anywhere near this amount. Iirc their has only been one court case over unpaid tolls. The women in question got approx a 90% mark down on what she owed. She ended up paying less than the actually tolls. She went through the toll for four years communting up to dundalk.

So what should I do????

Surfacezebra

Ring them they always knock them down to less than 20 euro,say you have not got it and will cost more in the long run to bring you to court

Fittle

Ok, I'll ring them now...I'll report back;)

ANXIOUS

Fittle wrote: »

Ok, I'll ring them now...I'll report back;)

Give them a sob story, say your unemployed and the most you can afford is €10 each way. Which more than covers the automatic letters they send out.

Fittle

Well, the very nice girl in Pierse & Fitzgibbon put me on hold for a few minutes and said the most she can reduce the bill to is 190euro - I have no idea how she came up with that figure mind you!

I am (genuinely) a single parent with a child - I work f/t and have a big mortgage - I am tempted to send them a chq for 50euro telling them the above and asking that they accept 50e as settlement????

ANXIOUS

Fittle wrote: »

Well, the very nice girl in Pierse & Fitzgibbon put me on hold for a few minutes and said the most she can reduce the bill to is 190euro - I have no idea how she came up with that figure mind you!

I am (genuinely) a single parent with a child - I work f/t and have a big mortgage - I am tempted to send them a chq for 50euro telling them the above and asking that they accept 50e as settlement????

Dont do that you'll be over paying them. Write them a letter, no one has succesfully been brought to court.

Fittle

ANXIOUS wrote: »

Dont do that you'll be over paying them. Write them a letter, no one has succesfully been brought to court.

I hate having stuff outstanding - I imagine they would argue back & forth with me if I don't offer them something. I accept that in not paying the toll originally, there should be some penalty and I think 50euro in total is a reasonable settlement - I'm gonna write off to them and see what the outcome is.

Grolschevik

Fittle wrote: »

I won't bore any of you with the details of the reasons I didn't pay my original toll amount (6euro) just over 9weeks ago

Fittle wrote: »

I did get a reminder during the 9weeks which increased the original bill from 6euro to 45 euro, which I didn't pay.

Fittle wrote: »

I hate having stuff outstanding

Fittle wrote: »

I accept that in not paying the toll originally, there should be some penalty

Elucidate?

giant_midget

Fittle wrote: »

I hate having stuff outstanding - I imagine they would argue back & forth with me if I don't offer them something. I accept that in not paying the toll originally, there should be some penalty and I think 50euro in total is a reasonable settlement - I'm gonna write off to them and see what the outcome is.

Just mention to them that you have no job & no means to pay, That you will send them a cheque for €20 to close the matter, Tell them this is final on your part & you will not enter into any further discussions with them over this.

Fittle

Grolschevik wrote: »

Elucidate?

I had to look up what that meant;) Fair point - I completely forgot about the first toll 'fine' - given that I was in negotiations with my building society about more important matters (interest only on mortgage) at the time...but now that it's a solicitors letter, I would prefer to deal with it.

I'll send them 20e as suggested by you giant midget...

JustAddWater

Here's how I read that...

Fittle wrote: »

I'll send them 20e as suggested by a giant midget...

good luck with the call!!

ANXIOUS

Fittle wrote: »

I had to look up what that meant;) Fair point - I completely forgot about the first toll 'fine' - given that I was in negotiations with my building society about more important matters (interest only on mortgage) at the time...but now that it's a solicitors letter, I would prefer to deal with it.

I'll send them 20e as suggested by you giant midget...

Make sure you include something along the lines. By cashing this you are accepting this as full and final payment for any monies outstanding.

neilthefunkeone

A friend in work had a large enough bill with them(150ish).. Same story.. didnt pay a toll and ignored the letters after it..

He got away with just paying the original toll payment and the €3.00 late fee if he signed up for a tag account..

But i think you might have missed that opportunity as its now gone to a collection agency..

Milk & Honey

ANXIOUS wrote: »

Dont do that you'll be over paying them. Write them a letter, no one has succesfully been brought to court.

Many people have been successfully brought to court.

msg11

Milk & Honey wrote: »

Many people have been successfully brought to court.

You sure about that ?

Who ever operates the barrier should give 7 days to pay the 3 euro toll. If after 7 days you don't pay it then it should be brought up too 21euro then after a further six weeks 63euro then stops at that.

People have walked away from drugs charges with a cheaper fine that near 300euro.

The above system is fair and reasonable. 7 days is more than enoght time to pay the toll anything after that is taking the piss to be honest and show the intention your not going to pay.

Bumping 3euro up too 6euro after 24 hours is very unfair and it's how people see it. If they think it's unfair they won't then pay the toll as they think the operation is a joke and not serious.

Milk & Honey

msg11 wrote: »

You sure about that ?

.

Dublin District Court. One day every month. Judgements are frequently awarded to NTR.

Delancey

Surfacezebra wrote: »

Ring them they always knock them down to less than 20 euro,say you have not got it and will cost more in the long run to bring you to court

No , they most certainly do not knock them down to less than 20 Euro , a lot of very inaccurate stuff in this thread.

Fittle

Just an update.

I wrote to the solicitors saying that I accepted that as I didn't pay, there should be a fine. I offered to pay another 60euro (which would bring the total to 100euro) as I am a single parent etc. I gave them a (true) sob story, and attached details of my recent contact with the Building Society and Mabs etc.

They replied saying they would reduce the total bill to 190euro and that if I don't pay the outstanding 150euro in 14 days, I will be issued with a summons.

So for those saying that people are clearing this fine with 20euro, you're wrong!!!

MagicSean

Once it goes to a solicitor you have to pay for his costs too.

Fittle

It won't get to a solicitor - I'll find the money and pay the remainder somehow!

MagicSean

Fittle wrote: »

It won't get to a solicitor - I'll find the money and pay the remainder somehow!

i thought it had already gone to their solicitor

Fittle

MagicSean wrote: »

i thought it had already gone to their solicitor

It has gone to eflow solrs - but it doesn't mention their costs in the letter to me. Do you mean if it goes to court, I'll have to pay their costs? I'm saying I'll just pay this 190 (total) and that'll be it, over.

MagicSean

Fittle wrote: »

It has gone to eflow solrs - but it doesn't mention their costs in the letter to me. Do you mean if it goes to court, I'll have to pay their costs? I'm saying I'll just pay this 190 (total) and that'll be it, over.

No. I mean once it goes past their standard reminder letters and their solicitor starts writing to you then the minimum amount they will accept goes up to cover the cost of the solicitor writing to you.

jblack

giant_midget wrote: »

Just mention to them that you have no job & no means to pay, That you will send them a cheque for €20 to close the matter, Tell them this is final on your part & you will not enter into any further discussions with them over this.

Wouldn't it be helpful if there was some sort of grading system on boards for the quality of posts or perhaps a warning for people who proffer ridiculous suggestions which are dressed as advice?

Scealta_saol

Pay the €190. You are paying some of the costs for the solicitor writing out to you and if it gets brought to court then they can request costs against you on top of the fine you could get from the judge...

I think it would be best to just get rid of the fine once and for all...

castie

Fittle wrote: »

It has gone to eflow solrs - but it doesn't mention their costs in the letter to me. Do you mean if it goes to court, I'll have to pay their costs? I'm saying I'll just pay this 190 (total) and that'll be it, over.

Try to arrange a payment plan with them possibly.
Whatever you can afford a week.

From reading here (I could be 100% wrong on this though) an action like this will look poorly on them if they then proceed to court after you have demonstrated that you are willing to pay but do not have the financial means to pay it all in one go.

MrPudding

giant_midget wrote: »

Just mention to them that you have no job & no means to pay, That you will send them a cheque for €20 to close the matter, Tell them this is final on your part & you will not enter into any further discussions with them over this.

This is a fairly idiotic piece of advice.

MrP

jblack

giant_midget wrote: »

Just mention to them that you have no job & no means to pay, That you will send them a cheque for €20 to close the matter, Tell them this is final on your part & you will not enter into any further discussions with them over this.

http://www.geekologie.com/2008/11/good_idea_man_submits_drawing.php

JJJJNR

The only way they knock them down to 12 euro etc is if you have an eazy pass, and are setup with a DD, I've forgotten to put the easy pass on my window a few times and I've got the bills and rang them up and explained and they were ok with reducing it, I think it costs a euro a month to get an easy pass, well worth it TBH.

Fittle

It was my first (and last!!) time to use the toll. I've arranged a payment plan with them - said I'll pay 50e a month. They've accepted that over the phone.