The tolling system on the new Port Mann Bridge is being called into question after a B.C. man who lives 300 kilometres away from the crossing was mistakenly charged.
Kamloops resident Dennis Legault insists he’s never been anywhere near the bridge, but recently received a bill in the mail asking him to cough up an unpaid toll regardless.
“Because of their lack of taking care of their business, I get a bill for crossing the bridge and I’m nowhere near the Lower Mainland,” Legault said.
The Port Mann is electronically tolled to prevent cars from having to stop and idle at staffed booths. Instead, cameras snap pictures of vehicles’ license plates, and the plate numbers are used to identify owners’ billing addresses.
The bill Legault received was for a mere $1.50, but on principal he called Treo, the company responsible for toll collection, to contest it.
After being put on hold for half an hour, the company agreed to check his photograph and realized one of the numbers on the license plate had been misread.
Treo declined to speak about the issue, but sent an email saying that two million vehicles cross the bridge every month, and that errors may sometimes occur.
The company cancelled Legault’s charge and told him he could discard the bill. But the motorist said he would check his bills carefully if he were a frequent bridge user.
“People are going to pay for something… they’re not using,” he said.
With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Kent Molgat
