M50 Toll - free

[Sebastian]

in the morning .. my mind was flying .... bla bla .. a passed the toll without paying the fare (barrier was up .. the light was green - of course from the fella before me - ) .. the taxfella was shouting after me .. but i was allready in the 3 gear !.. couldnt stop . funny thing is that i was with the window down .. money in the hand .. prepare to pay .. but i swear i dont know what happened .. in a split of a sec !

Shoud i expect a fine ? or .. worst >

[Muad_dib77]

Nah don't thik anything will happen mate.
I've seen people drive straight through the barriers..nobody does anyting..

Toll roads are a joke anyways..why do we bother wiht road tax?

[johnny]

correct me if im wrong but wasnt the m50 toll bridge built by a private company??? So its them that charge the toll to make the money back + a lot of profit...then after so many years the toll goes to the government....its basically a way of our lazy gov gettin out of the hassle of building the bridge themselves Thats why there is so many tolls in America....private companys build the roads.

[CJ]

The govt take a (large) % of the toll, the more it goes up, the bigger the %...

CJ

[Myfeckin FTO]

The M50 has long since paid for itself.
At least most Euro countries take down the toll booths after the road has paid for itself. Its just another stealth tax here in Ireland.

[soc]

The M50 has long since paid for itself.
At least most Euro countries take down the toll booths after the road has paid for itself. Its just another stealth tax here in Ireland.

This isn't always the case - France has one of the best road networks in Europe, not just surface but everything that goes with it, i.e. signage, warning signs, servcing etc, and most autoroutes are tolled and expensive too.

The actual problem in Ireland is that the government has quietly moved paper pushers into jobs that should be filled by engineers, for example, the local county councils are now run by managers (non-technical) whereas they used to be run by engineers - the end result of this is that we have substandard transport links, water, public transport, etc purely because those making the decisions do not really understand the technical nature behind the problem and they generally get advice from outside contractors only interested in making a quick profit.

But you are right, the M50 and the East Link have long paid for themselves but the question is, should these be free then where does the government recoup the loss in earnings?

[Sebastian]

Could enybody answer my Q please )

[JD]

They have cameras on each booth and I'd be surprised if they didn't follow it up. If word got around that they just let you go if you run the barrier people would be doing it all the time.

"All motorists who are liable to pay toll fees and who fail, neglect or refuse to pay them are guilty of an offence. They are liable on summary conviction in a District Court to a fine not exceeding 1,270 euro".

If you're at all concerned about getting a fine why not just pull in next time you're going through (you can park and go up to the office), tell them what happened and pay the couple of quid toll - get a receipt and the name of the person you speak to (write it down) - enjoy your weekend......

Cheers
JD

[pergau]

Sebastian,

You have to let us know how you get on with this.

[Dave]

i went through one day without paying, reason being there was a cop car behind me and i had to pull off before i could pay (not chasing me )

i stopped at the booth on the way back and mentioned it to the girl at the toll and she said not to worry and was very blazé about it as if it wasn't an issue!!!

[Sebastian]

it's more than a week and nothing in my postBox

So ... still waiting ..

I used the TOLL since then a few times ..