The M50 Barrier Free Tolling Thread

Our man in Havana · 01-08-2009 1:14pm

Couple of hundred at most. Most of them would be default judgements ie no appearance/defence filed.

I don't believe that no cases were contested.

Sizzler · 01-08-2009 4:31pm

A little bit more info based on todays article in the Indo -

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/nra-stands-to-reap-83642m-each--week-from-m50-toll-penalties-1848864.html?from=dailynews

wrote:

By Paul Melia

Saturday August 01 2009

THE National Roads Authority (NRA) stands to make up to €2m a week from motorists who don't pay the M50 toll on time.

New figures show the owners of the Dublin ring-road could take in €100m each year in penalties from drivers who don't pay the toll -- €20m more than the revenues from motorists who pay on time.

Financial data from the NRA shows that one in eight drivers -- 12,500 motorists -- who use the ring-road are not paying the €3 toll by the 8pm deadline the day after the journey is made.

And despite warnings, thousands are refusing to pay subsequent fines, leading to a potential cash bonanza for the NRA if they take them to court.

The figures show that the NRA could make up to €100m from penalties this year -- almost 30pc above what the roads authority expects to receive in tolls.

The overall amount of money payable in toll penalties per day amounts to a hefty €331,000.

Assuming that Saturday and Sunday traffic equates to one weekday's revenue, the amount generated is €1,986,000 per week -- or €103m per year.

So far, there have been two court cases where people have appeared before Dublin District Court summonsed with not paying a fine. In both cases, they were settled or a judgment issued in favour of the NRA.

When the motorway was bought from National Toll Roads (NTR) last year, toll revenue of €80m per year was forecast to be generated.

But the late payment penalties are fuelling NRA coffers by almost 30pc more than expected.

The Consumers Association has called for the penalty revenue to be used to reduce toll amounts, and for the payment period to be extended.

"The extra benefit should be passed back to consumers and charges lowered," vice-chairman Michael Kilcoyne said.

"The penalty is excessive, and the timeframe to pay is too short. For many people, it's not possible to pay by 8pm the following day.

"Suppose you go through on a Saturday and your local shop is closed on a Sunday. A week should be given to pay."

Fee

The toll barriers were removed from the M50 last August, and since then motorists have enjoyed quicker journey times by not having to stop to pay the fee.

But it is understood that the NRA does not expect the potential fines to remain at the current level, and that motorists will change their behaviour and pay the toll on time.

A NRA spokesman defended the system in place, saying that motorists were given notice on the motorway that fines had to be paid by 8pm the next day.

He added that the money collected was used to maintain the motorway, pay back €600m to National Toll Roads -- which owned the road before being bought out by the State last year -- and to pay the €25m cost of operating the barrier-free tolling system.

- Paul Melia

Apparently two cases have been 'settled' in court, with one of them going in the favour of eflow :rolleyes: Serious amount of propaganda and scaremongering here.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/on-fast-track-to-hefty-fines-1848866.html?from=dailynews

wrote:

Saturday August 01 2009

100,000 trips are made every day across the M50 toll bridge.
25,000 trips are made by pay-as-you-go customers, who pay €3 per trip.
12,500 motorists don't pay by the 8pm deadline the day after the trip is made, incurring a €3 penalty, which must be paid within 14 days.
Of these, 3,000 are foreign-registered cars, mostly from Northern Ireland.
4,000 motorists a day are issued with second penalty notices of €41.50 because they don't pay the €3 fine.
Another 2,500 motorists don't pay this fine within the 56-day period, incurring a further fine of €104.50.

Our man in Havana · 01-08-2009 4:51pm

Still only 2 defended cases? Who defended them Lionel Hutz?

RebelLucanRente · 04-08-2009 12:31pm

RebelLucanRente wrote: »

Just signed up to post on this topic. I received two 47.50 fines in the post despite never being informed that I needed to pay two 3 euro fines at any point in the 14 days they allow you.

I have gotten no satisfaction from the customer support people and so have decided to raise this issue directly with the NRA (big nod to 2pack over on thepropertypin.com for pointing me in this direction).

I think anyone who is dissatisfied with BEF should big screaming at the NRA because this is the public body who contracted BEF to carry our this service.

I have informed the lady directly responsible for this PPP in the NRA that I will be calling her as a witness in any court proceedings against me to explain why she has not recified this obviously disfunctional system. I copied her boss on the mail.

I will be contacting my local councellors and TD's on this issue. I will be contacting every media outlet in the country if the issue goes to court. I'd encourage all other victims of sharp practices at the hands of BEF to follow the same route.

Just to give a very belated response to some of the PM's I got on this - a day after I sent my email informing the individual in the NRA responsible for the eflow PPP I would be holding her personally responsible for my harassment, her boss emailed me, informing me he was waiving the fines. He maintained the charges were valid but he would wipe them in this one instance. Anyone who wants the email addresses of these idiots, pm me.

dmaxontour · 05-08-2009 2:13pm

Well here's our story.

We went up North and back on a weekend in March. The again in May.

We had moved address at the beginning fo March, contacted Shannon, filled in a form, had it sent back as it was incomplete, rang Shannon because we couldn't see what was missing and Shannon admitted it all seemed fine and could we send it back. We were away for a month in April so it didn't get sent til May.

In the interim, we received no notifivations of the tolls as they all went to the wrong address.

Later we went through the tolls and this time got letters saying we had to pay 3 euro, which we paid, but there was no mention of the previous tolls so we continued on unaware of owing anything.

The yesterday, Boom, we get a letter from the leeches in Kerry saying we owe 152 euro for each toll. I phone them up and explain the situation, but they say that's too bad.

Personally I am in shock and can't believe they can legally up the toll from 3 euro to 152!!! I am so disgusted with this, and all the many similar things that repesent Rip Off Ireland.

SO I wrote to them yesterday and will see what happens. But I will go to court, if only to have my say and an Al Pacino moment - "I'm out of order? Eflow are out of order. BEF are our of order. Scum, Leech and Parasite are out of order! The whole country are out of order." - something like that anyway ;-)

I'm very glad I found this thread though.

simples · 05-08-2009 8:19pm

dmaxontour wrote: »

In the interim, we received no notifivations of the tolls as they all went to the wrong address.

Later we went through the tolls and this time got letters saying we had to pay 3 euro, which we paid, but there was no mention of the previous tolls so we continued on unaware of owing anything.

When I worked there and had this kind of scenario, we were advised to tell drivers that the notifications are not legally required, they are sent "as a courtesy reminder" and it is the responsibility of the driver to pay their tolls on time as they used the road... so I'm not surprised they were unsympathetic as usual.. but best of luck with getting it sorted tho

Carawaystick · 05-08-2009 9:17pm

dmax, you paid the 3 euros as advertised on the toll road, you should have no problem.
the NRA/eflow had your incorrect details due to another department of the govt failing to inform them of the change to your details - there's no way you could loose this.

If you know the nra/eflow sent letters to your old address, email them to ask why they used incorrect personal data about you, and what steps they took to ensure their copy of the data used were correct.

dmaxontour · 06-08-2009 4:32pm

The 3 euro I paid for tolls later were for different tolls. Basically, Any toll I knew about, I paid for, as I found out. The problem with this solicitor's letter is that I didn't know about the tolls until I got the letter from the solicitor. If I had, I would have paid.
It is very very messy.

Fighting Irish · 06-08-2009 4:47pm

use the bridge and pay your toll, its fairly simple

if you don't pay on time then pay the penalty, that's faily simple as well

Our man in Havana · 06-08-2009 5:02pm

Fighting Irish wrote: »

use the bridge and pay your toll, its fairly simple

if you don't pay on time then pay the penalty, that's faily simple as well

Troll!

Fighting Irish · 06-08-2009 11:33pm

Bond-007 wrote: »

Troll!

Not really, so many people are bitching about things that are their own fault.
Its like playing game of soccer then bitching about how the rules are crap.

Mezcita · 06-08-2009 11:35pm

Fighting Irish wrote: »

Not really, so many people are bitching about things that are their own fault.
Its like playing game of soccer then bitching about how the rules are crap.

Agreed. No matter how much people moan about this lark the M50 is about 50 times better than it used to be.

Traumadoc · 06-08-2009 11:56pm

They admit they are incorrectly charging 200 cars a day.
If you use it you should pay, the problem is that many people are not paying and many are being incorrectly charged.

Fighting Irish · 07-08-2009 12:40am

Nakatomi wrote: »

They admit they are incorrectly charging 200 cars a day.
If you use it you should pay, the problem is that many people are not paying and many are being incorrectly charged.

That's fine but many posts in this thread are about people missing the deadlines then bitching about fines :pac:

dmaxontour · 07-08-2009 10:10am

There is often a portion of culpability on the part of the road user. That's accepted.
In my case I am not saying I shouldn't have to pay a toll when there is one, or a fine if I am late, but I was unaware of any toll until I got a letter telling me I owed 152 euro. That was my first notice.
Apart from the fact that a jump from 3 euro to 152 euro is obsene and totally out of proportion, as well as being a form of profiteering on the part of the solicitors, there is also the fact that to a first time user the road signs on the M50 are not sufficiently visible, taking into account the speeds on a motorway, so sending out a follow up reminder letter is important. So if this 1st letter never arrives, what then?
Also, when we travelled on teh M50 later in the year, we got letters asking for the tolls, but there was never any mention of previous tolls that remained unpaid, (as you would get on many other bills) so we never wondered if we had any unpaid tolls.

Our man in Havana · 07-08-2009 11:33am

Fighting Irish wrote: »

That's fine but many posts in this thread are about people missing the deadlines then bitching about fines :pac:

They are not fines, they are penalties under contract who's legality has yet to be proven.

Sizzler · 07-08-2009 1:19pm

Bond-007 wrote: »

They are not fines, they are penalties under contract who's legality has yet to be proven.

A guy about 10-12 pages previous in the thread reckoned once this has been tested in the courts it wont stand up. He gave the impression he knew what we was talking about, perhaps he was a solicitor or law student

There is one serious flaw about the M50 and trying to levy fines on it though from a drivers perspective, I am loathe to post it though in case they go and rectify it, why should I do their job for them :P

Our man in Havana · 07-08-2009 1:22pm

Could you PM me?

Sizzler · 07-08-2009 1:48pm

Done

dricco · 07-08-2009 4:47pm

can you pm me too please?

Our man in Havana · 07-08-2009 6:26pm

This info is sensitive and we are hardly going to tell a 4 post wonder.

Shield · 07-08-2009 6:44pm

Does a 1,000+ post wonder get to know via PM?

dricco · 07-08-2009 7:05pm

Ah go on, I'm getting screwed by eflow. If I go to court, i'l have to travel to Dublin and take time off work. Goin to try and scare them with a leter fst though

Shield · 07-08-2009 7:14pm

Bond-007 wrote: »

This info is sensitive and we are hardly going to tell a 4 post wonder.

Wow thanks for that PM Bond. I can't believe that didn't cross their mind when they were implementing it in the first place. The system would fall to its knees if everyone was to do that. There's just no way they can rectify that now at this stage.

simples · 09-08-2009 1:07am

ohh can I find out too??

x in the city · 09-08-2009 2:12am

<x in the city's post merged with main thread - Chris>

I just saw a post about the motorway and I realised I used the m50 last week..

:eek:

I forgot all about the toll, how the hell do I pay this? will I get charged a crazy fee for not paying?

I am in galway now, I never use the m50, this was a once off.

any help?

ninty9er · 09-08-2009 2:22am

It'll double to €6. Ring up tomorrow and explain and pay the €6.

Victor McDade · 09-08-2009 2:23am

Call them on 1890-501050 and they'll sort you out over the phone, you can pay with CC or laser.

http://eflow.ie/index.htm

bladebrew · 09-08-2009 2:25am

x in the city wrote: »

I just saw a post about the motorway and I realised I used the m50 last week..

:eek:

I forgot all about the toll, how the hell do I pay this? will I get charged a crazy fee for not paying?

I am in galway now, I never use the m50, this was a once off.

any help?

they send a letter to you,its €3 for the toll +€3 fine if its within 2 weeks (i think) i cant find it on their website now
they have to scan the barcode on the top of the letter so you can pay it though,

x in the city · 09-08-2009 2:31am

for infrequent users, the e flow is an ass of a system

Id say a lot of people havent a clue about it...

[like myself]

id say they have made quite a few 6e's so far..:rolleyes:

The M50 Barrier Free Tolling Thread

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