I Fought The Law, Or Someone With My Address Did
About two months ago, I got a bill for a toll from the Texas Tollways TXDOT (Texas Department of Transportation) folks.The bill:
1) Didn't list when the infraction occurred. I don't remember ever driving on a toll road, and since I'm a cheap bastard, I doubt I did.
2) Didn't list where the infraction occurred, no mention of where it happened or even which toll road it was on. The state is 268,000 square miles, I'd like a little more of a specific location than "Somewhere in Texas."
3) Didn't list the vehicle. There was no description, and no license plate. My car title note doesn't even come to my apartment, it still goes to the old house, so I doubt it's mine.
4) Didn't have the correct name on the account. The bill was sent to my apartment for "Reid Jamie Elaine FloydFred Allen." Only one of those names is mine, and it's not even the important one.
I called the number on the invoice, and TXDOT couldn't tell me when or where the violation occurred, on to what vehicle. The woman apologized, and told me to write a letter on the bill that explained that person wasn't at this address and to send it back in.
I did that. Since then, I've received six more bills from TXDOT, each adding another dollar to my bill for an "Invoice Fee." Right now, Mr. or Mrs. Reid Jamie Elaine FloydFred Allen owes the state about ten bucks.
I don't know if anyone else has had anything similar happen, but it seems to me the great state of Texas isn't using my tax money effectively. If this is how we're going to pay for our roads, we might want to consider having a bake sale.
6 Comments:
That's MS. Chanandler Bong.
Something similar happened to me, but when I called TXDOT they just took care of it over the phone. And that was it.
I think I'd double check that stuff. It's hard for me to believe TXDOT would bother to send anything without a plate number or picture.
Sounds fishy to me. . .
Karen
Most toll roads in Texas now do not have "Toll Booths"
Instead they have cameras that take a picture of the licence plate and then automaticly bill you at home. They then tack on a one to two dollar administration fee so they can charge people even more for driving on the toll roads. Toll Road 121 in Lewisville is a prime example. My husband and I drive that road to get to my brother's house. Before we got a toll tag we always had to pay the toll bill when it came in. Basicly, a toll tag is your best bet.
So, for example, if you drove any of the small part of the Loop 49 toll road here in town they would bill you. But that is why you may not have realized you were even driving on the road, since there are no booths, etc.
However, considering the odd name I think the camera has an issue with someone's licence plate.
I think the TXDOT camera was drunk.
Weren't we out of town on the date of the invoice? Maybe someone stole your car while we were out of town! I'm not really surprised that they brought it back. haha
Since the ticket came in the summer and my car's air conditioning is perpetually out, if someone had stolen my car, it probably would have been returned all sweaty.
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