Sanral’s e-toll summonses aren’t legal – but don’t ignore them: Outa
Civil action group Outa, says that the summonses sent out to over 6,000 motorists for the non-payment of e-tolls have a number of irregularities that make them unlikely to pass legal muster – but warns motorists not to simply ignore them.
Speaking to the Centurion Rekord on Tuesday, Outa’s transport portfolio spokesperson, Ben Theron, urged motorists to appeal any summons they receive from Sanral relating to e-tolls.
Ignoring the summons will lead to another default judgement against those implicated, as was seen in a recent case with a business owner in the south of Johannesburg.
While Sanral claims that this default judgement sets a precedent against those who refuse to pay e-tolls, Outa insists that no precedent has been set outside the fact that, yes, you have have to go to court when you have been summoned.
According to Theron, Outa is currently working on a case with 150 of its paying members who have received summonses from Sanral, and will be going to court to get the summonses ruled as illegal.
The group highlighted many discrepancies in the summonses, most notable of which was that motorists are facing the music for not paying e-tolls from 3 August 2013 and 31 August 2015 – but tolling only commenced on 4 December 2013.
“The conditions for payment of e-tolls was published on 19 November 2013. It does not identify any conditions before 19 November 2013; he summons does not identify what the tariffs were between 3 August 2013 and 2 December 2013,” he said.
Theron also highlighted that the summonses do not include many of the details Sanral needs to run a successful court case, including the exact identity of the vehicles, the details of the gantries passed and the various dates and times.
Another massive problem, Outa said, is that the e-road regulations prescribe that Sanral must send invoices to road users within 32 days, but its summonses do not indicate any record of the dates involved.
In effect, Outa holds that there is strong cause to say that the summonses were not served properly, and are thus illegal. However, it stressed that motorists can’t simply ignore it, and it must be appealed.
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