This was according to the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral), which admitted that the Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) consortium sent final letters of demand for outstanding e-toll amounts in error as part of its testing process.
“It was a human error which resulted in the sending of test e-mails to live addresses,” the roads agency’s spokesperson Vusi Mona said.
ETC, which runs the road agency’s Violations Processing Centre, was in the process of contacting the parties concerned to apologise, Mona added.
He maintained that the issuing of summonses remained a last resort for recouping outstanding e-toll payments.
Justice Project SA revealed last week that letters of demand were sent via e-mail to motorists with outstanding e-toll bills.
This came after a company received two emails on 2 May, one containing the final letter of demand and the second advising that summonses had been issued.
Justice Project SA chairperson, Howard Dembovsky accused ETC of deliberately lying to the public and resorting to intimidation by sending the emails.
However, the roads agency denied having sent the letters, adding that it had not requested the National Prosecuting Authority to issue any summonses.
Responding to the claims, Mona said, “Sanral has sent communication as a final reminder of outstanding payment, but no final demand invoices.”
“We are still following the normal process of following up on outstanding toll fees. The issuing of summons is the last resort. We would much rather have road-users register for their e-toll accounts, thereby avoiding the legal route.”
However, Dembovsky argued that Sanral’s “head doesn’t appear to know what the tail is doing”.
