The Mid-West Trucker's Association reported that In recent weeks they received numerous calls from members complaining that they have received fine notices from the Illinois Tollway for missed tolls.
Many of these fines go back as far as two years ago. But members also said they never received notice of the missed tolls nor were they ever on an I-PASS bill.

Some fines have totaled thousands of dollars just on a single truck. One member received over 900 fine notices for tolls on trucks that were never originally billed, according to Don Schaefer at the association. Other members have received fine notices for truck plates that they turned back into the state over a year ago.

The response to an e-mail regarding the Tollway past dues and fines was overwhelming, he said. "Literally hundreds of members have received notice regarding missed tolls and potential penalties."

"Many expressed concern that leased drivers were not paying their tolls. In some leased vehicle situations, there is a procedure the Tollway had established for securing payment of back tolls," Schaefer reports. "But what I am hearing from many members is something else - were they running on your plates or using your transponder? Are they truly and independent contractor? You may have other issues to deal with besides getting back tolls taken care of," Schaefer warns.

Following a meeting with Tollway staff, Schaefer recommends those impacted by the toll fine issue follow these procedures:

Contact the Tollway Service Center on the notice and be prepared to pay for the back tolls. The penalties will be waived, but the tolls must be paid unless you can prove otherwise that the plate was not yours. Schaefer says many fleets e-mailed him that they had already paid the toll, or know of some other glitch in the system.

At this stage, no registration will be suspended as long as carriers are making effort to straighten out the issues.

In the future, the Tollway will be working on a much shorter timeline for clearing up back tolls, Schaefer said. "There is legislation pending that calls for a 30-day turnaround, but there are also several other proposals that are being considered to shorten the time frame and to avoid the computer glitches that resulted in this massive back-up of unpaid tolls."

"Many of you have indicated that the back toll bill you received from the Tollway showed problems either with the transponder or the reader at a particular toll facility," Schaefer said. "I will be forwarding those on to technical people at the Tollway. If others have had the same problem (such as 50 missed tolls at the same exit or location) let us know as we'll get you in touch with the right people so it doesn't happen every month. It may require changing your transponder."

If a fleet is operating under the proper (and legal) lease arrangement with an owner-operator, "they should not be getting ANY toll notices for that individual. The only way the Tollway will send a YOU a bill is if that owner-operator is operating under your plate, using your I-Pass, PrePass or EZ Pass transponder or using your truck," Schaefer said. "If that's the case, in the eyes of other state (and federal) authorities then that driver is your employee and you should be treating him as such.

"If you have an equipment lease to another entity, then you must provide them with specific language that can be used to secure those tolls. A letter stating such was sent to I-Pass customers several months ago … Please forward that language to be included with lease arrangements for reassignments," Schaefer suggests.

PrePass customers can continue to call PrePass service center to get their back tolls taken care of and have the penalties waived.

For more information, call Don Schaefer at (217) 525-0310.