Pay taxi bill says Sanral to BMW motorist
A BMW owner charged to pay e-toll fees for a taxi she doesn't know or own.
JOHANNESBURG SOUTH – A registered e-toll motorist has fallen through the widening cracks of the embattled Sanral e-tolling system, after receiving two months’ account invoices for a taxi she doesn’t know or own.
Zama Morale, a BMW 3 Series owner, says she has never in her life owned a taxi and was confused when she received the incorrect e-toll account invoice in February and again in March.
As a registered e-toll user, the invoices from the Violation Processing Centre detail her correct initials, surname, ID number and home address, yet the vehicle and the vehicle’s registration are completely wrong.
“I was trying to do the right thing by registering my car with Sanral, as I use the N1 North on weekdays to work, and I used the N12 once in March to go collect my medication from a pharmacy in Alberton,” explained Mrs Morale.
The e-toll transaction report details that the taxi in question passed through the N12 Phakwe toll on February 5 at 17:03 and again at 06:27 on the same day passed through N12 Thaha toll. Mrs Morale says she was nowhere near the N12 on these days and at that time.
In February, taxi’s in Gauteng embarked on a strike, protesting against being charged by Sanral for e-tolling, as all taxi’s with valid operating licenses were to be exempt. The system would not recognise as exempt taxi’s that did not have valid permits.
“Now that they can’t charge the taxi owner for using the highway, they are charging me instead. This is unfair really,” added a frustrated Mrs Morale.
Mrs Morale’s attempts to get Sanral to rectify the Violation Processing Centre’s mistake were unsatisfactory, as she was merely given a Sanral Representation form to query account statements and charges therein. The forms are to state that Mrs Morale does not believe that she’s responsible for these specific charges and any association fees for all of the passages included in the tax invoice issued to her.
Although the form will assist in disputing her presence on the highway and that the vehicle does not belong to her, she’s unhappy that she has to be the one who does the running around for Sanral’s mistake.
According to staff, Mrs Morale should fill in the forms, report the matter to SAPS and make an affidavit. Thereafter she should take the form back to Sanral so the application can be reviewed, and then the outcome of their review would be communicated to her as the applicant.
