South Bay Expressway South Bay Expressway Sending an invalid Notice of Toll Evasion - Payment Request San Diego, California
I am writing this the day I received a citation in the mail for Toll Evasion. The citation states I used the South Bay Expressway on 1-27-2011 at 7:22pm and failed to make the toll payment. My citation number is C113488687.
The problem with this is I was nowhere near the location on this or any other date. I have never used the toll road in question. Infact, on 1-27-2011 (a Thursday), I worked my normal hours at my job in Camarillo CA 93010 (located 187 miles from Chula Vista). After my work, I picked up my kids and took my son to his soccer practice at Valley Lindo Park in Camarillo, CA 93010. His practice ended at 6:15pm. After which I took my kids home and made them dinner. I have witnesses that place me in Camarillo, CA 93010 at 6:15pm. It is simply impossible for me to get from Camarillo to the toll road located over 180 miles away in 1 hour. With no traffic, maybe I can make it in 3 hours, but not leaving Camarillo at 6:15pm.
I know that I and my vehicle have never used the toll road. I know on the date and time I was nowhere near San Diego. So how can this entity state they have reasonable proof in order to issue a citation. They cannot. So they either made an error, or accepted unacceptable evidence as proof.
In either case, I have been placed with the burden of proving my innocence. This South Bay Expressway should do their due diligence prior to issuing erroneous citations which cause innocent people time,money and frustration.
I would like to find out how to see this photo that shows a 2009 red Nissan Sentra with my license plate. There simply cannot be a photo, so i conclude that this organization is just sending out citations knowing many will pay the erroneous fines in order to close the issue. Comments by others have stated that the organization is having financial problems, so maybe this is their strategy towards fixing them.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
South Bay Expressway
San Diego,California,
USA
Happy to clear up any mistakes ...
#4UPDATE Employee
Fri, February 11, 2011
Hello,
We're sorry to hear about your experience. Unfortunately, technology isn't perfect and sometimes when a photo is taken of a license plate, the numbers or letters are read or entered incorrectly in our system. This type of error is straightforward and easily proven. When you call or fill out the dispute section on the back of the citation, the toll violations team will go back and review the day/time of the infraction and look at the license plate in question to verify the characters. In the case of mistaken license plate characters, this can all be taken care of with a simple phone call. There are folks who choose to evade tolls, which is why we have a video surveillance system in place and take photos of license plates. Citations are generated and sent out automatically when a toll is not paid by FasTrak account, Cash or Credit Card. If a number or letter is misread, it’s simple - just call us and we’ll check the image and transfer the toll to the corrected plate.
It looks like Robert from Buffalo provided the correct information in advising you to call, but since you listed your citation number in your complaint, we were able to look it up and see that it was a misread character – in your case, number 7 was read as a number 2. We went ahead and made that change which is why it was already taken care of when you called and it looks like that was confirmed to you by a Customer Service Representative today. You have to do nothing further.
We would never intentionally charge you or anyone else for a trip on South Bay Expressway that was not yours. While we try to keep these errors to a minimum, sometimes they do happen. All it takes is a simple phone call and we’re always glad to correct them.
jhelsdon
Camarillo,California,
United States of America
Follow up
#4Author of original report
Thu, February 10, 2011
So yesterday I received the citation in the mail. Last night I posted on this website my complaint. This morning I called them at 8:10am, and they stated the citation has been closed as they made an error in reporting the last three digits of my license plate number.
What triggered them to correct there own error? Its seems they could have corrected this error before they sent the citation notice 3 days ago. It leads me to wonder if I had just mailed the payment, would they have accepted it.
Robert
Buffalo,New York,
USA
Call them!
#4Consumer Comment
Thu, February 10, 2011
You should telephone them immediately to challenge this fine! Also, there are proceedures on the citation notice for you to log in to their website with the citation number and your license tag number. You should be able to see the photo on their website.
There are several reports here about them, but the good news is that is appears that if this is an error they will correct it so you will not have to pay.
Don't delay-call them today.
Good luck.