“I hope that this is yet another part towards achieving our main objective which is to bring an end, once for all, to charging of tolls” on motorways which were previously free to use, Francisco Almeida, chairman of the Commission was quoted as telling the Lusa News Agency this week.
Mr. Almeida added that the decision by courts to declare fines illegal could become generalised across the country in other cases, stating that the current payment method “violates people’s right to privacy as the overhead cameras register movements of drivers who should have the right to free circulation.”
It has meanwhile also emerged that a number of interest groups, lawyers and associations have been holding meetings to agree a joint path of action in which they aim to take on the government head-on in a bid to revoke tolls altogether.
This development comes after a court in Braga last week issued a series of rulings in which all fines levied on motorists for failing to pay electronic motorway tolls were declared null and void.
But tax authorities have since revealed they are considering appealing these decisions, which is no surprise given the amounts reportedly at stake for the state’s depleted coffers.
However, only disputes over values of above 1,250 euros can be taken to a higher court, with those in excess of 30,000 euros being heard by the Supreme Administrative Court.
The main justification for the Braga Court’s ruling in favour of motorists was that the fines were issued to the owners of the offending vehicles, and not necessarily their drivers.
The cameras fitted on overhead gantries on motorways such as the Algarve’s A22 only capture images of the car’s licence plate and not the driver.
As a result, lawyers have argued, and successfully, that the owner of the vehicle is not necessarily the transgressor and he should be allowed to prove his innocence, which has not happened since tax authorities took over the collection of unpaid tolls back in 2012.
Hopes rise that illegality of fines could lead to end of motorway tolls
in News · 22 Jan 2015, 13:47 · 4 Comments
I dont have a problem with my face being on camera, if you dont break the law you dont have a problem, if they remove the tolls the government will have to get money from somewhere and then everyone will complain about rising taxes. If you dont want to pay tolls then dont use the toll roads, it's that easy.
By Pam Law from Lisbon on 23 Jan 2015, 09:07
Someone has to pay for maintenance and upkeep of roads and it seems fair that a) that should be motorists and b) that it should be on the principle of the more you use them, the more you pay.
The Braga Court's judgement seems basically flawed - you can't avoid liability for a fine imposed on your vehicle just because the authorities can't prove that you were behind the wheel.
By John Pearce from Beiras on 23 Jan 2015, 19:57
I have no problem paying for tolls, they speed up travel. The problem with the Electronic Tolls is the fee collection system, even the head of EdP says it is wrong. It there was a longer period of time to pay the fee, more than the ludicrous 5 days now, then more people would pay and there would be less need to issue fines.
By Wendy from Beiras on 26 Jan 2015, 10:20
I am in in complete agreement with Wendy from Beiras. Why not leave the information on the database for say six months? If an extra fee needs to be added for late payment add that too. And why not provide an address where a late payer can send in a payment and an email address where one could pay using an online service like PayPal? I'm sure that the amount it would take to update the system would be more than covered by those of us who are willing to pay the toll but for various reasons simple forget to do so.
By Desmon Patrick from Algarve on 28 Jan 2015, 13:48