Driving on tolled roads is acceptance of payment liability
Drivers, by using a tolled motorway, are legally presumed to have accepted liability for payment of the toll, a judge has stated.
Circuit Court president Mr Justice Raymond Groarke clarified the situation for a Co Kilkenny man who had failed to pay a bill for €1,500 of tolls and penalties relating to unpaid passages along the M50.
David Walshe, who represented himself and, while not going into evidence in the Circuit Civil Court, suggested in his cross-examination of an Eflow executive that he had not used the toll on the dates stated and that someone else might have stolen his car registration and used it illegally to avoid toll charges.
Walshe, of Manor Walk, Rosehill, Kells Rd, Kilkenny, had been ordered by the Dublin District Court to pay €1,500 in tolls and penalties, in relation to 17 passages through the north Co Dublin M50 toll.
The bulk of the €1,500 had been made up of penalties. Walshe had appealed to the Circuit Court, which affirmed the order of the lower court and directed that he pay €1,000 in legal costs, on top of his fines and penalties.
Judge Groarke said the law stated that the registered owner of a vehicle that passes through a tolled area is responsible for paying. He said that drivers on a tolled road were presumed by law to have accepted payment of the toll charge.
“If you don’t want to pay the toll, then you take a different route to avoid it,” Judge Groarke said. “If you take a tolled route, you are accepting responsibility to pay the toll and that is the responsibility of the registered owner.”
The judge said that, on 17 different journeys, the vehicle registered in the name of Mr Walshe passed the toll and no toll charge had been paid.
The court was satisfied that he had received all relevant correspondence from the National Roads Authority, trading as Eflow, with regard to liability to pay.
Judge Groarke said that Mr Walshe had suggested that the vehicle that had traversed the M50 toll had not been his car, but a vehicle carrying his personal car registration, which had been stolen and used with criminal intent to avoid payment of a toll.
The judge said he had heard no evidence from Mr Walshe that this had actually happened, even though the Eflow executive had told the court that this does happen occasionally.
There also had been no evidence of any complaint having been made to the gardaí by Mr Walshe that his registration had been stolen.
Judge Groake said the evidence was conclusive that Mr Walshe was responsible for the tolls and he affirmed the order of the District Court, with additional legal costs.
