For whom the belles toll

Motorists are generally a fairly sober lot, but there's nothing like toll charges to get them more than a little excited. They bristle at the very mention of the issue.

Since the start of the year Irish drivers have been getting extremely exercised about the annual decree of an extra 20c on the price of driving over that bridge. We're not happy about this at all.

It now costs €1.80 to grind to a halt, hand over money to the machine/friendly NTR person in order to bring a journey on the M50 car-park (which we have already paid for through road tax) to its conclusion.

When all is said and done, it's a pretty dreary experience all round - and don't let any "pilot study" by a Comptroller and Auditor General tell you anything otherwise.

Not so for some US toll users, thousands of whom certainly got a whole lot more than they had bargained for recently. Oklahoma motorway users trying to call the state-run toll authority about electronic payment passes were mistakenly directed to an adult premium phone line. A spokeswoman for the state transport authority, Brigette Berglan, said the state toll authority had made an error in letters sent to 41,000 motorists.

One digit was incorrectly printed in the phone number for callers seeking advice on how to deal with toll gate payments. The error sent thousands to the sex line where they could choose to speak with "exciting people", such as lonely housewives, students and "fantasy girls" for $2.99-a-minute.

It's unclear how long motorists stayed on the line before presumably hanging up in utter disgust. "We're not that exciting here at the authority," said Berglan. "We prefer to think of ourselves as helpful."

Those who got the incorrect notice were sent a postcard with the correct number. Thank God for that.