The “Pagamento de Portagens” website has ena-bled drivers to avoid extra charges for late or unpaid tolls thanks to the system according to Margarida Cordeiro, who represents Via Verde Portugal that runs the system.
Cordeiro said that the www.pagamentodeportagens.pt site had only been up and running for six months but had already had around a million page views, with 85% from Portuguese IP addresses resulting in the settlement of 200,000 outstanding tolls being paid.
There are two main facets to the website; one catering for those who drove through the toll gate without paying and wish to do so retroactively and another for those who drove through the toll
gate without paying and had already been notified by letter of such an
infringement.
In the latter case, the notification comes with a code enabling payment to be made with the system covering the bulk of Portugal’s highway toll roads, with Cordeiro adding that the website expected to cover all such tolls by the end of the year.
Drivers looking to save money on toll payments should be aware that payment via this online site in due time incurs a €2.21 administration charge in addition to the outstanding toll. Contrastingly should the tax authorities be involved in collecting the payment then the amount payable starts off at a minimum of €25.
Online toll payment scheme
By PA/TPN, in News · 31 Mar 2016, 14:25 · 3 Comments
Sounds like a true successstory. The truth is different. We spent a few months in the Algarve ,november thru feb. At the spanish border, we linked our plates to our creditcard and for the following month used the A21 for free, as no charges were ever made to the card.
Why is this systeem only werking for 30 days? IT would have been pleasant and cheap to use it for the full four months. After the first month i purchased a 40 euro internet voucher, which in the systeem is linked to my mobile phone. You are supposed to receive a message after the amount has been used up, so you can buy a new voucher. A simple system, although i would prefer a system, which informs the user of every change in his balance. However we never received any notification. I presume i used up the balance in these three remaining months, but iT is also quite possible that - like in the creditcard case- no charges were deducted from the balance.
Coming winter when we will be in the Algarve again, i will probably just purchase a 10 euro voucher after the first month.
This systeem just does not convince me at all I am afraid.
By Hans G from Other on 01 Apr 2016, 12:18
We have lived in the algarve for six months and have only recently had to use the toll road, we were expecting to pay through toll booths but there are no booths between Silves and Faro Airport so we expected a bill to come through the post, we waited but nothing came and we recently found out that you have to pay at the post office, of course by the time we knew this and went to pay we were told that it'sno longer on the system and we will be fined. Surely this should be in writing somewhere, we were willing to pay but now being fined because we were not aware of the procedures.
By Linda from Algarve on 05 Apr 2016, 09:21
I also registered my credit card when I brought my car to the Algarve but I was never charged for using the toll!
I guess the system simply cannot read UK registrations
By john Gibson from UK on 07 Apr 2016, 17:53