Toll Company demanding payment of m50 Toll for a car I no longer own

Manion

Had an odd experience there during the week. I traded up my car at the end of January with a dealership, change of ownership went through a few business days after I handed over the keys, Feb 3rd.. About a week after that the car is spotted flying through the M50 toll and failing to pay. When I owned the car I had a toll tag but deactivated it. Then last week I get a penalty notice in the mail from my Tag provider in quoting statues and legal action unless I pay the toll. I rang them up and they confirmed that the car was not registered in my name when at the time in question but they had a policy of sending the penalty notice out to the last known owner on their records. The lad on the phone told me I would need to track down the new owner and pass on the penalty notice to them to resolve my problem. At this point I got a bit thick with them that demanding payment of a debt from someone they know not to be liable, as evident by the change of ownership details, and threating legal action was an extremely sharp practice and it wasn't my job to collect debts owed on by the new owner.

It really pissed me off that this would be standard operating practice for a major toll tag company, they just sent me the penalty because they had my details. I know several people who would stress and worry over things like this. Anyone else experience this type of practice?

delboythedub

tell them that you forwarded the fine you got from them to the new owner who thanked you and said that they will settle the matter ASAP and that you are sorry that you cannot pass on the details of the new owner because of GDPR.

Atlantic Dawn

I've had fines sent to me for cars not matching my make and model, they should have to do that basic check before sending out payment demands to anyone. They then when I pointed this out to them refused to issue me with photo's of the car in question because of GDPR, you couldn't make it up.

AyeGer

Id imagine you could just ignore it, what basis in law would allow them to require you to track down the new owner of the car. They are just hoping you will do their job for them.

Manion

I went with denying I had any obligation to do anything. Agreeing to forward on and then not seems like an approach that might backfire. I offered to give them to dealership details so they could chase the new owner and they refused to accept them. Interesting you mentioned GDPR, this seems like an miss use of my data no? The car wasn't registered against me with the toll company at the time, they had to do a search through historical data to find my details, doesn't sound like an appropriate use.

saabsaab

Get details re your date of sale (proof). Take all the papers to the Garda Station and report it.

There's no way I'd be entertaining any of that nonsense, I'd do the opposite of what DelBoy is saying.

"Sorry, no, that's not me......I sold the car 2 weeks previously....Oh, you have a record of that? Cool, see ya later"

"Well actually, you need to track down...."

"No, you need to STFU. I don't need to track anything down. I informed you the car's no longer mine, you've agreed this is the case, so I'm now out of this equation altogether. Any further attempts to drag me into this will see your Data Protection Officer getting a letter from my solicitor about this breach of GDPR protocol. The only reason you have my details on record is because of my ownership of that car. Now, you've accpeted this car is no longer mine so you no longer have cause to retain this data on me, so misuse it at your peril".

Job done.

We used to get a monthly letter from a collections agency for the previous owner who hadn't paid back a loan or whatever. I used to write "no longer at this address----return to sender" on them and post them back. They'd still arrive every month. I saved them up for two years, took a photo, then emailed that photo to the agency along with this link saying "Here's proof you've contact me 24 times after I told you to stop sending letters to my address. The legislation states that 2 or more unwanted contacts is enough to warrant a civil suit for harassment, and you've sent me 30+ so far. If this does not cease immediately, the next letter from me will be in relation to a court date, seeking compensation for the distress you are causing me."

Never received any more after that.

Manion

That's pretty close to how the conversation went. Chap kept banging on about how to resolve my problem I kept saying this was their problem resolve and I have no problem. Leaving GDPR aside, I was wondering if this was something for the central bank as the regulator. It's obviously standard practice for this company to send out false penalty notices on the basis most people would just pay.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118654517#Comment_118654517

This is completely over reacting. Just ignore the fine.

I’ve received several fines from Eflow after people buy cars from me and drive them home without paying. I either ignore the fine or call and tell them to check the change of ownership, and then it’s sorted.

Manion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118654928#Comment_118654928

Well, I'm definitely not going to be going to the Gardai. I think the story would have ended with the call if they hadn't been insisting I chase the new owner.