NRA collects €12m in fines from M50 toll

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

About 25 million people have used the barrier-free tolling system between January and September, generating €71m in revenue.

According to the NRA, some 73% of M50 users had either an eFlow video account or an on-board toll tag allowing for automated payments from that customer’s account. There was a total of 5,206 summonses issued between January and September for unpaid tolls.

Six of these went to court while one is still pending.

Barrier-free tolling came into effect on August 30 last year.

The system, now known as eFlow, replaced the controversial barriers that many motorists blamed for the persistent traffic jams that clogged the motorway over the past decade.

Its introduction followed the Government decision to agree a €488m buyout of the Westlink bridge from its owners, National Toll Roads.

However, the eFlow system has been heavily criticised owing to the number of incorrect notices issued to motorists because of the incorrect reading of number plates.

According to the NRA, at the outset of the eFlow system, about 200 number plates were incorrectly read each day, about 0.2% of the total journeys on the M50.

“The operator has introduced additional measures which has seen that figure reduce and is considering additional system enhancements to address any misreads, but the 99.8% is an industry best. You will never see 100% due to the multitude of variables involved,” an NRA statement read.

The NRA confirmed a number of Northern-registered vehicles have tolls outstanding. These will face retrospective billing when an agreement between the Department of Transport and its British counterpart to share databases comes into effect early next year.