M50 Toll Bridge - "Processing Charge" €41.50?

O

onq

Registered User
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Okay, okay, I should have paid the €3, I know.

I usually do, but as luck with have it I was moithered with preparing two cases going to the the High Court in the past month so I.. forgot.

I was astonished at the scale of the "processing charge" - € 41.50!

I went over once, the missus twice, so that's nearly €150!

The notice states that this is due "in accordance with section 64(1) of the Road Acts 1993 t0 2007 and the Bye-Laws for the M50 (between junctions 6 & 7) dated July 2008 for each transaction."

I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of the relevant documents/acts/by-laws.
I googled before posting this and couldn't find a link - mebbee the syntax was wrong or something.

I was also wondering if anyone has had experience of this previously - normally I pay one time in the shop down the road, so I don't myself.

I also pass on this so the rest of you can be aware of the "processing charge", which, for a double-sided automated A4 letter seems outrageously expensive.

This should only cost 1-2 Euro, including the postage, max.

Very disgruntled about this.

Ombudsman next I s'pose.

ONQ.
 
i agree with the previous poster. There is numerous warnings on the M50 about paying the toll and there is also schemes in place to allow you "top-up " your account etc. The reason the charges are so high , is so people pay the fee on time etc. Sorry if i am a bit harsh but you did forget three times!
 
If the penalty was only €1-2 then you would probably "forget" to pay that too!
 
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Points taken posters, but I still think its exorbitant and its not a "penalty".

Does anyone know where it arises in the legislation?

Can they set it arbitrarily to any figure?

ONQ
 
I had a problem with this at the start of the year. I missed a payment then paid after i went through again, everything got confusing. End of it all i had to pay 30 or 40 quid including penalties (cant tremember exactly). Bit of as shock in january!!
Anyways, i rang eflow and explained everything. The girl went through it all and it wasnt looking great. She then suggested that i sign up for one of the payment methods. She said that if i sign up she can probably waive the fees/penalties
Now i use the toll maybe 10 times a year so i didnt want the pre pay thing were they top it up when it hits 12 euro.
She offered a monthly post payment option whereby i set up a direct debit and every time i go through it costs 2.50. Every month i get a bill and they take the money. No worries any more.
So i guess ring them and discuss options. Also they might show were the legislation your looking for is.
 
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dereko1969 said:
Why? Whether it's called an administration charge/penalty or whatever. You didn't pay the charge so the penalty applies.
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Just pay the toll now, I cannot see anything in the bye law about how soon/quickly you have to pay it after crossing..

As long as you pay the toll there should be no reason to pay a penalty. Just because they want you to pay within 24 hours does not mean they should be allowed to issue penalties.


It's actually a joke having to pay anything for this road anyway. It's been a building site for the past 15 years
 
onq said:
Points taken posters, but I still think its exorbitant and its not a "penalty".
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Its no different to the scale of penalties for not paying a bus or Luas fare.

Its supposed to be high enough to encourage you to avoid it.

Are you seriously suggesting that the penalty for not paying should be 2 euro. Not much of a penalty.
 
Don't forget that when you forgot to pay they sent you a letter.. with an additional 3 Euro penalty.. you have two weeks to pay this. It also states clearly that if you don't pay then they will issue you with an additional 40 Euro penalty per trip..

So if you wanted to avoid the 40 Euro penalty you had several chances to pay.. you choose not to pay and now you have been hit with the additional 40 Euro per journey.

The good news is that you can ignore this one too.. you have 56 days to pay.. if you don't pay you will eventually receive another additional charge of 100 Euro per trip... I don't know how long you have to pay the final 100 Euro but if you don't pay it then you will end up in court..

In court you can try to get the judge to throw the case out...
 
huskerdu said:
Its no different to the scale of penalties for not paying a bus or Luas fare.

Its supposed to be high enough to encourage you to avoid it.
Are you seriously suggesting that the penalty for not paying should be 2 euro. Not much of a penalty.
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It eems its not a "penalty" its a "processing charge" and thats my point.
They are the ones who call it a processing charge, not me.
The penalty actually is €3, believe it or not.



You pay an additional €3 penalty and then the processing charge of €41.50.
Sorry I didn't make this clear before now.

ONQ.
 
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I'll 2nd this.

My mum had my car for a few months while i was away, and thought it was now free to go through the toll bridge! I suggested she needs to go to specsavers. The fines i had were near 300 euro. But i signed up to the monthly direct debit and all the fee's were waived. I dont use the toll bridge very much, but at least this way i never have to worry about paying the fee or charges that will get added if i do forget.
 
why didnt you pay it when you got the letter asking for 6euro?

even when you forget to pay the 3e, you then get a letter about a week later requesting the payment. so you ignored this too.

i think you have no options but to pay it, although if you do decide to contest it, i wish you the best of luck, be nice to rattle their cages
 
I paid.

Now I'm questioning the basis of the processing charge.

ONQ.
 
I agree with you onq.

If they call it a penalty, then fair enough if they have a basis for levying a penalty.

But if they are calling it an administration charge, then it must be proportionate to the cost of the administration they are providing. That much, I believe, is european law - witness the cases in the UK for penalty charges for sending overdraft letters and the like. They are based on an EU consumer protection directive. Now, I don't know if it only applies to financial institutions, but I seem to recall that it doesn't. An unexpected charge should be based on actual cost.
 
yoganmahew, thanks for that background info.

Should I now address this to the ombudsman?

Is this under the Ombudsman's purview?

If not the Ombudsman, then have you any other suggestions?

All suggestions welcome.

ONQ.
 
No idea what to do in Ireland! In the UK it would probably go to the ombudsman, so that's probably a good place to start.
 
Niallers said:
I cannot see anything in the bye law about how soon/quickly you have to pay it after crossing.
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Bye Law defines Cut-off time as 'in respect of any use of the Toll Road, 20:00 on the day following such use'.
 
And don't forget that in order to go to the ombudsman "you must have been unsucessful in sorting it out with the relevant body"
 
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