This just happens to be my 100 blog and I have chosen an except from the, letters to editor page of the local newspaper, The Portugal News,where one reader has taken the trouble to vent his feelings on the A22 toll road situation which I thought he summed up quite nicely.
The reader writes;
"A22 Tolls and foreign visitors SIR, Although this topic must be coming wearisome for many,as a visitor to Lagos for many years now, I should like to make the following observations: I drive from the UK to Lagos
each year via Spain, spending the entire winter here.I arrived in November prior to the imposition of tolls. Last week, my son and his wife came to spend a few days with us, and, because of the arrival and departure times of their flights,to brave the EN125 was a very risky business.
Having made the journey to Faro and back (which the boards on the A22 informed me cost a total of 13.20 euros return I went to my local Pay Shop to pay after the 48 hours had elapsed.I was told that my plate did not appear on the computer and that I must go to Lagos Post Office to pay.
There I was told that not only couldn’t I pay there either, but that I had to ring a number in Portimão to sort out payment. Portimão gave me an email address, to which I explained what had occurred and stated my desire to pay the requisite amount, asking if I could do so by debit or credit card.The response referred to my ‘Complaint’(sic) and told me that ‘every vehicle with a foreign registration plate should only travel on Electronic Toll motorways with a temporary Nº1 device.This device can be obtained at a local Post Office’.
Not only is it impossible to obtain one in Lagos, I believe there may now be a possibility of acquiring one in Aljezur,although the only definite outlet is in FARO.
However,the cost is €27.50 euros rental, plus €6 for the first week and €1.50 for every week thereafter, up to a maximum of 90 days, when the whole process has to be repeated again. As someone who stays here longer than that period, the ramifications become ever more absurd.
Having made the journey to Faro and back (which the boards on the A22 informed me cost a total of 13.20 euros return I went to my local Pay Shop to pay after the 48 hours had elapsed.I was told that my plate did not appear on the computer and that I must go to Lagos Post Office to pay.
There I was told that not only couldn’t I pay there either, but that I had to ring a number in Portimão to sort out payment. Portimão gave me an email address, to which I explained what had occurred and stated my desire to pay the requisite amount, asking if I could do so by debit or credit card.The response referred to my ‘Complaint’(sic) and told me that ‘every vehicle with a foreign registration plate should only travel on Electronic Toll motorways with a temporary Nº1 device.This device can be obtained at a local Post Office’.
Not only is it impossible to obtain one in Lagos, I believe there may now be a possibility of acquiring one in Aljezur,although the only definite outlet is in FARO.
However,the cost is €27.50 euros rental, plus €6 for the first week and €1.50 for every week thereafter, up to a maximum of 90 days, when the whole process has to be repeated again. As someone who stays here longer than that period, the ramifications become ever more absurd.
Also, although theoretically the initial deposit can be recouped, to do so, one has to return it to the Post Office from which it was purchased.
Additionally, the charges, as far as one can gather, will eventually surface at one’s home address in the UK,where, as the payment will not have been made within the 5 days allowed, fines and ‘administrative charges’ will be levied.
To summarise, I have either to incur lengthy and expensive journeys to rent ‘temporary devices’ and then return same, pay extortionate rental levies whilst in possession of something which I am unlikely to use more than a couple of times at the most throughout my stay here, and make a journey to leave Portugal without the device if I have returned it, thereby incurring further charges and fines,or make every journey into and out of Portugal, plus all those whilst here, using only the EN125, causing further congestion to those who use it on a daily basis as local residents and increased danger to myself.
Small wonder that the decline in tourist revenue which is referred to in just about every article in your paper is gathering pace.
When foreign visitors, whose own countries’ economies are not exactly healthy, are faced with such idiotic and ill-thoughtout schemes, they are likely to think twice about further visits to a country that seems unwilling or unable to bring any form of rational planning to such impositions. All I wish to do is to pay the actual toll which my journey(s) warrant.I happily pay the tolls on the Bilbao- Burgos Motorway, which reduces the time and stress of my journey down towards Portugal. I would happily pay the 11 or more euros for the journey from Lagos to Vila Real. What I need is a simple way of doing so without being
‘ripped off’ for unnecessary rentals and time consuming journeys to places miles from where I am residing."
The farce continues...............