Motorists face price hike on M50 barrier-free toll

MOTORISTS using the M50 in Dublin could soon be facing a hike in prices on the controversial Westlink toll which began a new barrier-free charging system at the weekend.

The National Roads Authority has confirmed that it is allowed under legislation to raise tolls annually in line with inflation. It means that motorists currently paying a €2 toll could be hit with a 10 cent increase from January 2009 as inflation is currently running at 4.4%.

Toll charges have been index-linked over the past decade and increases are rounded off to the nearest five cent. The Westlink’s previous operators,

National Toll Roads often raised fees by the rate of inflation on January 1.

However, NRA spokes- man Hugh Creegan said no decision had yet been made with regard to raising the cost of the tolls next January.

“We’ve been too busy planning the removal of the barriers at the Westlink toll plaza and making sure people are informed about the new system to address the issue of inflation,” said Mr Creegan.

He acknowledged that the NRA, which is due to collect €80 million in tolls on the Westlink in the first full year of the eFlow system, is not obliged to automatically raise the toll by the rate of inflation.

Some motorists on the M50 have already experienced a 50% increase in the toll charges on the Westlink since the introduction of the new system on Saturday.

Drivers who fail to register their details with the eFlow system have to pay a toll of €3 compared to the normal charge of €2 for those using a tag account.

The NRA has already been criticised by consumer groups for failing to pass on the removal of a 21% VAT charge to car drivers since the Westlink passed into public ownership after the Government’s €488m buyout of the franchise from NTR.

Under EU legislation, publicly operated tolls are not allowed to charge VAT which meant that ordinary motorists should have seen the cost of the €2 toll being cut by 42 cent.

It also emerged last night that some motorists have been attempting to thwart the new system by placing cardboard and other material on their registration plates to block their being read by NRA cameras.

The NRA spokesperson said figures would not be available until next week about the number of unregistered motorists who had failed to pay a €3 toll by the deadline of 8pm the following day.

However, the NRA yesterday expressed satisfaction with the operation of eFlow tolling on its first weekday since the barriers were removed at midnight on Friday with no delays reported.