HKeToll staffer suspended for soliciting extra fee from drivers

A temporary HKeToll staff member has been suspended for allegedly soliciting an unauthorized "administrative fee" for helping drivers pay tunnel tolls after their vehicle tags were not detected by the system.

The free-flow tolling service's provider said the employee claimed on an auction platform that he could help drivers pay their tunnel tolls if the system fails to read their vehicle tag and would collect 20 percent of the toll or HK$2 as an administrative fee.

The Transport Department said it received the company's report on Saturday and that the company had reported to police.

The Transport Department reports around 380,000 vehicles are now going through the five tunnels installed with HKeToll, with the system detecting 90 percent of vehicle tags and over 99 percent of correctly installed vehicle tags.

Car owners with overdue payments only make up 0.7 percent of the total amount of vehicles.

They have been told to pay penalties before any appeals. If there is sufficient evidence the service provider will arrange a refund.

Motorist Jones Cheung Wai-fung told The Standard he was penalized some HK$8,000 by the HKeToll system for late charges despite having sufficient funds in his account.

The 25-year-old driver said he bought a stored-value "class tag" - normally for rental cars - in May and topped up HK$2,000 after seeing the system deduct toll fees from his account.

"They said I didn't repay the surcharges, but I don't know why there had never been any notifications [from HKeToll] for unsuccessful deductions," Cheung said.

During a 10-day trip to Southeast Asia late last month he received over 20 notifications from HKeToll, saying he had not paid tolls more than 20 times since June.

And after including late surcharges the total amount he supposedly owed rose to over HK$8,000.

Cheung said he felt helpless after being penalized as he had done nothing wrong.

Unlike a vehicle tag that is registered along with vehicle registrations and allows auto payments through the Faster Payment System or credit cards class tag users can only pay a bill at designated customer service centers, service outlines or convenience store chain 7-11.

Cheung said he could not pay the toll via the Faster Payment System nor apply for a vehicle tag as Transport Department staff had input his number into the system incorrectly when he renewed his vehicle license earlier.

He has applied to the department for changing his phone number so that he can apply for a vehicle tag and set up auto payment.