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The good, the had and the senseless Toll collect ticket machine
Page 29
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The good news is that the machines are pretty easy to use. Using touch-screen technology you're guided through the transaction process. There's a choice of French, Dutch, German, English and Polish, so other East European drivers may struggle.
The translation is reasonably accurate; the only question that might leave you scratching your head is where your vehicle "originated" (it means where your truck is registered).
Selecting where you want to join and leave the motorway is also very easy: touch the screen and zoom into the correct area until you find the correct motorway junction. Hey presto, the quickest route, distance and cost are calculated for you and you're given the period in which you have to complete your journey. But beware — if you're outside this time it counts as fraud!
We did some quick button-pressing to work out the cost of various journeys within Germany; here are the prices we were given, based on a Euro-3 truck running on five or More axles: Vetschau — Hanover — Munich, 983km; €118 kieferstelden (Southern Germany) — Hamburg, 857.9km, €103 Rheinfelden/Degerfelden (Western border) — Berlin. 846km, €101.57 Vetschau — Hanover, 3601on, €43
Our thanks to Don Armour from the Freight Transport Association for organising the trip and for doing a horrible amount of driving over two days.