Tolls on Dublin's M50 - foreign plate question
Oct 15, 2008, 2:47 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: East Lothian
Programs: SMWS
Posts: 733
Tolls on Dublin's M50 - foreign plate question
I drove southbound around the M50 on Saturday in a car with a UK plate. Through one thing and another 
I neglected to pay the toll online that day.
Does anyone know what happens now? Do I get a letter to the address that the UK DVLA hold for me (which I might not be at for a few weeks)? Am I given the chance to pay the basic €3 toll, or am I automatically hit for a penalty? And as an academic aside, do the data protection laws in each country allow the sharing of cross border information like this?
I neglected to pay the toll online that day. Does anyone know what happens now? Do I get a letter to the address that the UK DVLA hold for me (which I might not be at for a few weeks)? Am I given the chance to pay the basic €3 toll, or am I automatically hit for a penalty? And as an academic aside, do the data protection laws in each country allow the sharing of cross border information like this?
Oct 15, 2008, 3:21 pm
#2
Join Date: May 2006
Location: New York, London, Sydney
Programs: United GS/2MM, DL*P, VS*G, AA*EXP, Avis CHM, Hertz Platinum, Sixt*D, HH*D, HGP*P, Starwood*P
Posts: 9,847
Penalties
To avoid any penalties, we strongly recommend that you register for an electronic tag or a video (number plate) account. These are the cheapest and easiest ways to pay the toll.
For unregistered users, if you don't pay your toll before 8pm on the day following your journey, a penalty of €3 is added to the outstanding amount.
If you fail to pay the toll and this €3 penalty within the next 14 days, a further penalty of €40 will be levied.
Failure to pay the full amount due within a further 56 days will result in an additional €100 penalty. Then if you still have not paid the total amount due, legal proceedings will be initiated.
To avoid any penalties, we strongly recommend that you register for an electronic tag or a video (number plate) account. These are the cheapest and easiest ways to pay the toll.
For unregistered users, if you don't pay your toll before 8pm on the day following your journey, a penalty of €3 is added to the outstanding amount.
If you fail to pay the toll and this €3 penalty within the next 14 days, a further penalty of €40 will be levied.
Failure to pay the full amount due within a further 56 days will result in an additional €100 penalty. Then if you still have not paid the total amount due, legal proceedings will be initiated.
Oct 15, 2008, 4:23 pm
#3
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Posts: 311
They can trace UK registrations, as there is an EU agreement to follow up such things as parking tickets etc. It is not clear that they would bother for one transit though. The system has had a lot of problems, tags are not being read, number plates are being misread and so on. There is a huge backlog of bills to send out. The chances of anything being done about an errant tourist at this point seem small.
Oct 16, 2008, 12:30 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: East Lothian
Programs: SMWS
Posts: 733
The only problem I had with paying up asap, is that I did not know I had to. I could not see any signs by the road advising me how to pay, or that I *had* to pay by that night. Now I'm sure they are there, but I genuinely didn't see any.
By the time I asked someone, and was able to find the website, the system would not allow me to enter a date earlier than that date itself. So, here I am, patiently waiting an instruction to pay the original toll, not a penalty.
By the time I asked someone, and was able to find the website, the system would not allow me to enter a date earlier than that date itself. So, here I am, patiently waiting an instruction to pay the original toll, not a penalty.
Oct 16, 2008, 7:31 am
#6
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: London
Programs: BA bronze, Hertz pres circle, Marriott Platinum, hilton diamond
Posts: 2,537
Don't pay, whilst I don't have any experience with Ireland, I very rarely bother to pay the congestion charge in London and have never had a letter through. One of my friends who was driving every day finally got a charge after a few months in sent to his place in Germany.
Oct 27, 2008, 7:28 am
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: London, UK and Southern France
Posts: 18,361
Will vary from company to company but I would imagine that all of them have provisions in the contract for charging you an "admin fee" on top of the penalty itself. check the small print.
Nov 5, 2008, 5:40 pm
#11
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Ireland
Programs: AA PLT 2MM, IHG Plat
Posts: 3,566
My experience with Budget was that they only charged €3. This was done at time of rental as I told them I'd be passing thru the toll once.
With Hertz I told them when I left it back. They told me the €6 for two transits would be subsequently charged to my credit card. Nothing yet but it was only last week. Will post if I get hit with a "service" fee.
With Hertz I told them when I left it back. They told me the €6 for two transits would be subsequently charged to my credit card. Nothing yet but it was only last week. Will post if I get hit with a "service" fee.
Dec 18, 2008, 4:19 am
#12
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Gold, FB Plat
Posts: 396
http://www.eflow.ie
Another example of rip-off Ireland if you ask me, poor signs all in English so if you're non-english speaking you're stuffed. Having said that friends have said that the removal of the toll booths save them 45mins a day on the M50 now...
Dec 18, 2008, 5:19 am
#13
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: DUB - Ireland
Programs: EI-GCE, BD-G, BA-G, A3*G, TK*G, FB-G, HH-G, Hyatt-Dia
Posts: 8,527
Dec 19, 2008, 3:36 pm
#15
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Posts: 311
The reasonable thing would be for Dublin based rental cars to have an electronic tag and some straightforward electronic means of paying for this without admin fees and the like. Then visitors wouldn't have to worry about what to do, although they would have to pay the odd toll.
