Back home after a two month+ tour of Spain and Portugal, and thought it might be useful to others if I post something about our experience of driving in Portugal. This is to do with the toll roads in Portugal only.
We got stung for 84 euros on the day we entered Portugal, probably because I hadn't done enough research, and maybe a bit distracted when entering the toll road. I assume that our number plate got scanned as we entered the country, because a machine gave us a long piece of paper. It turned out that this document was a notice of our vehicle's entry on to the "EasyToll" database. However, the number plate was wrong by one digit, and the text below advised that we had a legal obligation to correct the entry online. I only realised all this much later because I was driving and there was a lot going on in terms of navigation.
Within a few kilometres we were greeted by half a dozen lanes at which point we made our costly error. Several of the lanes had over them an illuminated green tick (Via Verde, we later realised) and the rest had red crosses over the lane, with barriers. I think I assumed that green ticks were good, and sailed through one of those.
An hour or two later, as we left the motorway, we pulled up at the automatic exit barrier, and this is where the confusion started. Eventually we pressed a button to summon help, and a voice told us that we didn't have a valid ticket so we had to pay 84 euros to continue. She wasn't interested in the slip of paper that we'd received from the machine earlier. Apparently, what we should have done was to stop at a "red cross" barrier to get a ticket. We would have been able to pay 13 euros for that journey using a credit card or cash at the exit barrier. If we had stopped at services on the motorway, logged into our EasyToll account, corrected the error, and then associated a payment method with our registration, I think we may have been able to opt to pay that way, automatically.
Anyway, it's all very confusing, but the lessons learned were:
1. Never use a Via Verde lane, as even with an EasyToll account, it won't work because it needs a transponder in your vehicle!
2. Always opt for a lane controlled by a barrier, preferably with a sign indicating a human is present!
We didn't have any more issues with tolls after that!
We got stung for 84 euros on the day we entered Portugal, probably because I hadn't done enough research, and maybe a bit distracted when entering the toll road. I assume that our number plate got scanned as we entered the country, because a machine gave us a long piece of paper. It turned out that this document was a notice of our vehicle's entry on to the "EasyToll" database. However, the number plate was wrong by one digit, and the text below advised that we had a legal obligation to correct the entry online. I only realised all this much later because I was driving and there was a lot going on in terms of navigation.
Within a few kilometres we were greeted by half a dozen lanes at which point we made our costly error. Several of the lanes had over them an illuminated green tick (Via Verde, we later realised) and the rest had red crosses over the lane, with barriers. I think I assumed that green ticks were good, and sailed through one of those.
An hour or two later, as we left the motorway, we pulled up at the automatic exit barrier, and this is where the confusion started. Eventually we pressed a button to summon help, and a voice told us that we didn't have a valid ticket so we had to pay 84 euros to continue. She wasn't interested in the slip of paper that we'd received from the machine earlier. Apparently, what we should have done was to stop at a "red cross" barrier to get a ticket. We would have been able to pay 13 euros for that journey using a credit card or cash at the exit barrier. If we had stopped at services on the motorway, logged into our EasyToll account, corrected the error, and then associated a payment method with our registration, I think we may have been able to opt to pay that way, automatically.
Anyway, it's all very confusing, but the lessons learned were:
1. Never use a Via Verde lane, as even with an EasyToll account, it won't work because it needs a transponder in your vehicle!
2. Always opt for a lane controlled by a barrier, preferably with a sign indicating a human is present!
We didn't have any more issues with tolls after that!
