Lexus, Mercedes and Land Rover among cars seized over unpaid M50 tolls

A Lexus, a Range Rover, a Mercedes and an Audi A5 were among some of the cars seized for the the non-payment of M50 tolls last year.

The latest figures from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) show that 94 vehicles were seized by the Dublin Sheriff in the first 10 months of last year.

This is a a major increase on the previous year when 30 vehicles were seized in the same time period.

A spokesman for TII said on Friday that the outstanding toll bills which resulted in the seizures ranged from €5,000 to €15,000.

Emerald Airlines plans base at Belfast City Airport

---

New electric car registrations more than doubled last year

---

Ryanair and Lufthansa clash over EU's airport slot rules

---

Aer Lingus and American Airlines launch codeshare deal

---

Those bills have to be paid off before motorists can reclaim their cars from the sheriff.

“The seizing of cars is the final act in a series of opportunities for people to rectify the situation, but when a judgement is made that is it, ” the spokesman said.

“Enforcement is about fairness for the 97.3 per cent of the people who abide by the rules and there is a process for owners to reclaim cars after agreements on payments are reached,” he said.

“Unfortunately, there are a minority of cases that are not resolved during the process and end up before a judge. After a ruling a sub-set of those cases require the involvement of the sheriff.”

Lockdowns

The latest accounts from Emovis, the former operator of the M50 toll, show that direct vehicle toll revenues in 2020 decreased by 8 per cent from €25.4 million to €23.37 million despite of Covid-19 lockdowns.

The TII spokesman explained that the bulk of the payments by TII to the operator of the M50 toll are comprised of overhead and operational payments and a smaller percentage relates to the number of cars that go through the toll.

Emovis’s total revenue reduced by 23 per cent from €158.4 million in 2019 to €121.6 million in 2020.

Pretax profits at Emovis Operations Ireland Ltd increased by 13.5 per cent to €1.85 million in 2020 after its business received an €8.07 million revenue boost from a new business in Qatar.

On August 6th last, Turas Mobility Services,  a joint venture between Vinci Highways and Abtran, took over the management of the M50 e-flow contract.