After a year and a half of problems with the Belgian toll collection system Viapass, hundreds of wrongly issued fines, there is finally a prospect of some improvement. Wallonia plans to significantly lower fines for offences related to tolls.
So far all the violations related to the Viapass system were punished with a fine of 1 thousand Euro. However, the new Wallonia government plans to keep the promise of the former budget minister, Christophe Lacroix and will adjust the amount of the fine to the gravity of the violation – informs “Sudpresse”, a Belgian newspaper.
In accordance with officially unconfirmed information, Jean-Luc Crucke – the current budget minister, considers the possibility of introducing fines in the following amounts:
– 100 Euro for not paying the toll one time, due to the driver’s inattention (or the device’s failure),
– 500 Euro for not paying the toll a fee times,
– 1000 Euro will be the fine for not having the Satellic device at all.
According to “Sudpresse” the decision on the fine should be taken before the end of the year.
Viapass: Defective equipment being a cause of fines
The matter of wrongly issued fines sent by the Brussels capital region to thousands of carriers started basically when the introduction of the toll on Belgian roads, that is from April 2016. We are talking about fines issued due to incorrect data or received due to defective OBU boxes which every truck should have on board. The fines amounted to 1000 Euro per violation.
All in all, 5 million euros of fines have been cancelled
Since the introduction of toll of trucks on Belgian roads, the capital region of Brussels issued over five thousand undue fines. That’s more than five million euro which were going to end in the capital’s budget. It will not because the capital region government minister promised their remission.
For some time it has been known that written appeals can be issued regarding the fines issued unfairly for defective toll collection devices (OBU). It was also clear that the responsibility for the defective equipment shall be borne by the Satellic company and not the users. The fine, however, had to be paid first and only then you would be able to appeal. Guy Vanhengel, minister of the Brussels capital region government, has announced that transport entrepreneurs will be able to apple for deferment of payment and that the government is working on cancelling the fines as soon as possible and refunding the ones paid already. The minister also announced that in the case of non-payment of the fine a bailiff will not be involved.
The long wait for justice
Remission of the fine is very good news for many transportation companies. Paying a thousand euro for an infringement that did not happened due to the fault of the carrier was a real blow for the company owners.
Belgian commentators, however, note that the administration knows well that thousands of fines have been issued unfairly but cannot cope with their remission in such a short time. Fortunately, the case is slowly heading towards happy ending.
Foto source: wikimedia.org
