Hauliers threaten toll boycott
The Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) holds a board meeting tomorrow to decide if it will begin a “civil disobedience” campaign in protest at the removal of discounts of up to 15% available to HGV drivers on the Westlink.
The National Roads Authority (NRA) takes over control of the Westlink on August 30 after the Government’s €488m buyout from National Toll Roads.
Road haulage president Jimmy Quinn claims a refusal to pay tolls of up to €6.10 per crossing is being considered because its members will be denied bulk discounts. “Motorists are meant to have an alternative route for any place where tolls have been introduced. However, the M50 is the designated route for trucks crossing the River Liffey because of the ban on HGVs in Dublin. We are the only type of motorist for whom no viable alternative route to avoid paying tolls exists,” said Mr Quinn.
He also criticised the new charging scheme.
“It seems it will cost an awful lot to monitor compliance. You have to think there’s an easier way of introducing barrier-free tolling without the need for it to become a major administrative headache.”
Any motorist who does not pay the toll by 8pm of the following day faces steadily increasing penalties and fines over the next 70 days before legal proceedings are commenced.
But a drivers’ boycott, where they would remove the electronic tags from their windscreens, could cause a bureaucratic headache for the authority.
NRA spokesman Hugh Creegan said it was not aware of the arrangements hauliers had in relation to discounts, although he admitted they were aware that discounts existed.
He said the IRHA’s justification of having no alternative routes for its proposed campaign against paying tolls was “a completely separate argument”.
Mr Creegan also claimed that toll fares for commercial vehicles were recently reduced by 21% as VAT was no longer applied to tolls operated by public bodies.
He defended the NRA’s decision not to pass on the same reduction to ordinary motorists who could have seen the current toll of €2 being reduced by 42 cent.
“The VAT collected off car users in the past would still have gone to the state in another form,” he said.
The roads authority expects to collect €80m in tolls during its first 12 months of operation.
However, it admitted that thousands of motorists could face difficulties with the new scheme as they adapt to the removal of coin payment facilities from next Saturday.
