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A JUDGE HAS fined 13 motorists €154,000 after they skipped court prosecutions for repeatedly dodging M50 tolls, including a van driver who failed to pay for using the motorway 666 times.
They did not attend their scheduled Dublin District Court hearings today, and Judge Anthony Halpin imposed fines ranging from €4,000 to €25,000 in their absence.
Nine car owners, a lorry driver, and three van owners faced sample charges for avoiding the tolls on Ireland’s busiest road from April to November last year.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) prosecuted them after sending hundreds of warning letters.
Judge Halpin heard information about vehicle types and detailed records of outstanding charges, and he noted that the motorists did not turn up in court despite getting summonses.
In each case, he heard evidence of the motorists’ level of engagement with the M50 operators and vehicle ownership history.
Twenty-six cases were adjourned. Two defendants showed up to plead guilty, and because of that, Judge Halpin ordered them to pay €350 in fines and costs. He also said that ended the criminal prosecution, but the motorway operator could still seek to resolve the amount owed for the unpaid tolls.
Prosecutions proceeded without the 13 defendants who did not come to court, and they were fined.
The judge heard about a van owner who had used the motorway 666 times in a few years but never paid.
He and another van owner, who had 707 outstanding tolls, were each fined €25,000, which must be paid within three months. The third van over, with a record paying for 59 out of 441 tolls, was fined €13,000.
The lorry driver was fined €15,000 after the judge noted he had not paid for any of his 78 trips on the M50.
One private car owner who did not pay for any of his 360 trips and another with a zero payment record for 80 trips were each fined €15,000.
Others who made some efforts were hit with less severe penalties.
They were also ordered to pay the fines and €350 in costs within three months.
Prosecuting counsel Thomas Rice (instructed by Pierse Fitzgibbon Solicitors) said the cases against the 13 defendants could proceed in their absence.
A TII witness confirmed each vehicle’s ownership records, the number of passages, and payment history.
There was also evidence showing they were the registered owners then.
It also had images of all the vehicles passing the toll gantry.
The court can impose fines of up to €5,000 per charge and a six-month sentence.
However, the motorway authority’s practice is to pick habitual non-payers for criminal proceedings.
The standard toll for a private car is now €3.50, which must be paid before 8 pm the following day, or there is an added penalty.
Surcharges ratchet up after 56 days, followed by warning letters and court proceedings if it remains unpaid. Commercial and goods vehicle owners pay more, and registered owners are liable.
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Scrap the toll
@Furious George – The Wasp: If someone is not paying for over 600 travels,
they should scrap the car.
Take the cars of everyone with +50 non-payed travels and auction them off of scrap them.
It’s probably part of the van driver’s culture not to pay charges or anything else for that matter
@Martin Dolan: how ya boss, do ya wanna bit of tarmac for ahround the house, I’ll give ya a good deal 10,000 for 2sqm boss. Guaranteed for 2 weeks boss.
@Maurice: Nice one.
Issue all the fines you want, not worth a shyte unless it’s enforced.
@If you’re: is this story not about enforcement? Or did you neglect to read it altogether.
@Steve Davis: Not really.
The vehicle owners were just issued penalties, in the form of fines.
Just as they were issued notices for payment by the toll company.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: The fines will be registered as Judgements against the person.If they look for a loan they will not qualify.If they sell a property then the fine will be taken from the proceeds.
@Peter McCormack: @Peter McCormack: Don’t know about the 1st case, but to take the fine from the sale of property then a lien has first to be put on the property.
Which would be separate court cases.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere:
An attachment order is far more likely.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Sone other clueless comments. It’s typical from you here.
Scrap tolls or Car tax, maybe both!
@Terry Molloy: And replace with what?
@Terry Molloy: so you want a massive gap in public finances?
Motor tax doesn’t pay for roads, even if it did it wouldn’t cover them.
Instead it goes to health, education etc.
Seems weird to want to cut those budgets.
@Terry Molloy: The scrappingvof car tax was promised in 1977 election, along with scrapping local rates. FF won on a landslide. They rowed back on getting rid of car tax but did get rid of rates, with local government being funded from central revenue. Public finances in Ireland struggled for 40 years after that.
@Martin Bishop: we pay enough tax in our feckin petrol. Then car tax and additional road tolls. You want more taxes though? A very thick mick
@Tom O’ Donnell: Roads are we paid for as are east and west links bridges in Dublin, maybe you can afford to pay the tolls on top of your car tax but many can’t
@Sean Money: You don’t even pay enough motor tax to cover the roads.
Its no where near high enough.
This story comes up every now and then, trying to scare folks. No doubt these fines are never paid.
@Sean Money:
Actually most are.
Before the option for attachment came in (2014) apparently the courts were lucky to get half of the 50,000+ fines issued with litterly of thousands of committals to prison each year, often only for a few hours.
Now since they can get an attachment, even for dole payments, committals are down to a couple of hundred per year.
Had a Devil of a time that lad
@Richard Day: Beastly behaviour.
The M50 toll is a disgrace, users of the road can happily travel along most of its 45km length without incurring any charge, but if you travel between the N3 and N4 junctions you get tolled. This toll was supposed to be scrapped after the original license lapsed, but it has become a cash cow. Scrap it now, roads that are entirely in public ownership should not have tolls on them for users.
@Michael Burke: roads cost money to build and maintain, its only right people pay for them if they use them.
You do have a point about the location of toll, it should be broken into segments so more people pay something.
@Michael Burke: EU money paid for the road either side of the original Toll Bridge, that was given to a private company of course then bought out by Irish government
Whole thing has been paid for hundred times over
@Martin Bishop: Thats the idea, but unfortunately it’s not the practise. Roads here remain surface-less, unmaintained and in some cases dangerous. (75% of all road deaths occur on rural roads). Mad to think that with the €3.5 billion that comes from transportation taxes we have so very little by way of planning, maintenance or new infrastructure, and what we do get really only services a handful of people? (bikes, etc). The real problems are on the m50 and there isn’t a spine in the whole government to even approach it.
The Devil drives a Hiace
Just get a toll tag its saves hassel
@liam mc meel: Just don’t use the toll roads/bridges.
Saves the hassel.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: your time isn’t worth very much if you never use toll roads/bridges.
@Martin Bishop: I don’t use the toll roads as a matter of principle even if it costs me more time, petrol money and wear to the car. For me, principle is what counts.
Does anyone know what happens if the fines aren’t paid, are the offending parties jailed? Surely it would be better to conviscate the vehicle rather than waste more money jailing them or having to go back to court.
@The next small thing:
One time thousands of people were “jailed” , usually only for a few hours, for none payment of fines but since attachments orders were brought in committals are down to two or three hundred.
name and shame
“the accused “has a history of working, is not currently working, but he intends on returning to work”.”
I wonder if there is any other EU country where people on welfare attack people who work (you can add here the countless scroats who attack deliveroo drivers).
The system is designed to collect money from fines.
@Tom D:
good
@Tom D: the system is designed for people to pay what they owe.
Paying a toll is dead easy, if you don’t pay it you deserve what you get.
@Martin Bishop: There’s one that gets me too often.
It happens when I’m on my way to Dublin ferry port and pass that M50 ANR toll. Drive to port, four hours on the ferry, drive halfway across the UK and …
You guessed it the toll is forgotten until the return journey brings an “oh sh..e not again” moment and the next day a small penalty gets paid.
@Steve O’Hara-Smith: All that time you have waiting around the port, on the ferry etc you could easily and quickly pay the toll.
Also, there’s such thing as a video account. Its all automatic.
I use it and have been using it for years, when I go to Dublin now and then its all taken care for me so I don’t even need to remember.
These toll roads were not constructed as money making structures they were built to alleviate traffic from city and town centres. The one at Drogheda is probably the unfairest of all!!
@Ollie Fitzpatrick: In fairness I’d pay any toll to avoid the kip.
Toll dodgers, yup very interesting..in other news well done ICC for calling for warrants for the arrests of Hamas AND Israeli leaders.
@damien leen: and to Biden & co…you should be next up to be attested for war profiteering & involvement in the massacre of women & children.
Bring in a refugee tax, they would clean up
Was the van driver called Lucifer or Waddell does he drink Casillero del Diablo
Pay a toll for congestion still building property’s with no other ring road hello
Is there any point in these judgements? Is it one of those pointless judge No… kind of things? It would be good to know if the fines are actually collected. I kinda know the answer already.
@Patrice Ahern: The person with this Judgement against them will never get a car loan or a mortgage.
If they sell their house the Judgement will be paid first.
@Peter McCormack: I really wish I could, with confidence, believe what you say.
Some bill for Lucy Furr.
What a Beast :O
Ah that’s hilarious
The toll charge for a standard car is €3.70 not €3.50. How old is your report Tom???
have your say