Consumer champion DECO is taking on the laws used in the motorway tolls system whereby an 80 cent toll turns magically into a fine of between €25 and €125 .
DECO has complained to the Ombudsman against ‘excessive penalties’ for the non-payment of tolls on the old SCUT roads, which now are tolled motorways, and is pushing for a review by the Constitutional Court.
DECO lawyer Carla Varela explained that the goal is for the Constitutional Court to review the current 2006 law to see if indeed it is constitutional.
"The law is designed in such a way that the collection process and fines, fees and administrative costs will greatly aggravate the situation when the user fails to pay," said Carla Varela.
This toll fee laws led to DECO receiving 1,445 complaints between January 2013 and August 2014, mostly from drivers who opted to pay the fees after their journey was over, and then failed to do so.
Varela explained that the driver has five days to make the payment after the journey, which is not always possible for people due to time constraints or lack of access to online payment methods.
When a toll fee is not paid, according to the law, each section of the journey between gantries triggers a separate collection process, even though only one trip was made.
Hence, a driver who passes under 20 gantries on his journey will be faced with 20 enforced recovery procedures in the event of default. DECO has grave doubts as to the legality of this method and also over the calculations for the minimum and maximum fines for non-payers.
Varela also questioned whether it is legitimate that the full force and power of the Tax Authority is used to collect tolls for a commercial operation.
DECO says that the legislation does not meet the principle of legality, because the consumer does not have prior knowledge of the maximum values of the fines or, in the event of non-payment, that tax foreclosure processes will be used to collect the debt.
