Motorists pay €12m in M50 fines

Traffic on Dublin's orbital M50 route.

CIARA O'BRIEN

The National Roads Authority (NRA) has collected more than €12 million in fines this year from motorists who failed to pay the M50 toll on time.

About 25 million transactions have been recorded for the barrier-free tolling system between January and September 2009, with €71 million in revenue collected to date.

According to the NRA, almost three quarters of those who use the M50 toll bridge had either an eFlow video account or toll tag. Of those without an account, one third - 9.7 per cent of all traffic using the bridge – were issued with a penalty notice for failing to pay the €3 toll before 8pm the following day.

More than 5,200 motorists have been issued with a summons for unpaid tolls. Six cases have already appeared before the courts, with one pending.

Barrier free tolling was introduced in August 2008 following the sale of the bridge by National Toll Roads to the State for €488 million.

Previous reports estimated that the system failed to operate correctly in the first week of its introduction for about 20,000 vehicles a day.

The system has been widely criticised for the number of incorrect notices that were sent to motorists. According to the NRA, about 200 number plates were incorrectly identified each day at the beginning of the eFlow tolling system. This represents 0.2 per cent of total journeys on the bridge.

The firm blamed issues such as broken numbers, dirty or stylised plates and poor weather for the mistakes. The NRA said further measures have been introduce to further reduce that figure.

In April, it was announced that BetEire Flow, which operates the barrier free tolling system, was to run a competition between its existing customer service provider and a possible replacement firm in a bid to improve customer service. The decision was taken in a bid to improved customer service after the level of complaints remained high. Cork-based Abtran now operates the customer service element of the system.

NRA spokesman Sean O’Neill said there had been a “dramatic improvement” in the system.

Meanwhile, drivers from Northern Ireland who fail to pay up for using the bridge face retrospective billing of unpaid tolls when an agreement between the Department of Transport and its UK counterpart comes into effect. Under the deal, both jurisdictions will grant access to national driver databases from early 2010.

However, the NRA said foreign-registered vehicles account for a relatively small proportion of vehicles using the M50.

Mr O'Neill said there was a large number of Northern Ireland-registered vehicles that werecompliant with the system, and who were registered because they were daily commuters. However, the new agreement will mean that those who have dodged their toll bills will be forced to pay up. "It's a civil matter, through credit agencies," said Mr O'Neill.

Fine Gael's Seanad transport spokesman Paschal Donohoe called for a review of the tolling system.

“The M50 toll was never supposed to be another motor tax. No-one ever expected the NRA to turn into an outpost of the Revenue Commissioners. But with €50,000 worth of fines being imposed every day on motorists, the toll has effectively become a motorway tax.

“With this level of fines being imposed every day, and with 200 motorists being wrongly billed every day, the tolling system is clearly breaking down. There must be an urgent review of the entire system to make it easier to pay the toll and avoid being fines.”

However, the NRA maintained that the 99.8 per cent record of the system was "an industry best".