Pretoria – The SA National Roads Agency (SANRAL) has clarified confusions over e-tolls bills that were sent to unregistered road users a month after the system was introduced.
This comes after motorists who did not register for e-tolling reportedly complained of receiving their bills via text messages.
In a statement on Tuesday, SANRAL said it was dealing with queries that have been raised ever since the system was implemented.
SANRAL spokesman Vusi Mona said: ““We would like to assure members of the public that we take their concerns seriously and are making every effort to deal with those which are valid. We would also like to encourage members of the public to report their problems through our call centre, 0800 726 725, so as to enable SANRAL to deal with them swiftly and effectively.”
on text messages sent to motorists
SANRAL said text messages and e-mails did not replace invoices, and said they were part of normal debt collection in everyday business practices.
The agency also said these were being sent out to afford the road user the opportunity to qualify for the relevant discounts if they settle the amounts within certain time periods. The possibility exists that a motorist can receive an invoice well after the period that would have entitled him/her to qualify for a discount.
On why a bill was sent to a deceased person
SANRAL said it sent bills to the last person who a vehicle was registered under.
“If someone has died and the executors or inheritors of the estate do not change the ownership of that person’s vehicles (including the termination of the mobile numbers or email addresses), then the bill will be sent to the last known details in SANRAL’s possession.
“It is incumbent on those in charge of the estate to change the ownership details in order to avoid unfortunate incidents such as this with regards to any creditors.”
How unregistered users can establish how much they owe
SANRAL said unregistered users can see their transactions on the SANRAL website under the “Manage my VPC Account” tab. This, the agency said, did not mean they are registering for e-tolls, but simply meant that they want to view their overdue e-toll transactions, using their own security logon details. Should they not want to do this, they can view their transactions under “Check Violations” (top of manage VPC account page) by entering their South African identity number and vehicle licence plate number.
Also, motorists could phone the call centre or visit our customer service centres to inquire about their overdue amounts.
The VPC (Violations Processing Centre) is the debt collection division within SANRAL responsible for the collection and processing of overdue e-toll transactions and registered e-toll account holders.
How motorists can make payment
Payment can be made using the SMS reference or motorists can phone the call centre (0800 726 725) and will be given the correct VPC reference.
Emailed invoices also display the VPC account number. Payment can be made by credit card, debit order, EFT or over the counter at any SANRAL customer service centre.
Why would a person whose vehicle has never passed under a gantry get an SMS that they owe e-toll fees?
SANRAL said this could be a result where a vehicle has been cloned.
“We urge such motorists to please report the incident so SANRAL can flag this as a Vehicle of Special Interest (VOSI) and investigate.
“If you receive an SMS message and have not used the Gauteng road network, please call the call centre so we may check our records.”
Why there were queries regarding the value of the invoices as being incorrect.
SANRAL said the tariff, as stipulated in the gazette, will be higher after the grace period of seven days. Alternate user tariffs (which are three times higher) apply to road users who are in violation. This is the value that is invoiced. However if you pay within 30 days you will receive a discount and a credit note for the balance. – SANews.gov.za
