Dear Editor,
My wife and myself where invited to Marbella for the New Year. I have a British registered car but have been resident in Portugal for over eight years.
Now to get to Marbella I had the task of going down the A22 past the tolls. I made enquiries to find out how I could use the A22 and pay the tolls without purchasing a transponder.
I ended up in Alvor post office where the young lady there got out her manual to read up on how I should achieve this task and, after an hour, decided I could pay €10 for a five day pass and, as weekends don’t count, I could stay a couple more days.
The ticket she gave me said I could travel on the A22 from December 31 and return on or before January 6. So far so good. Drove to Marbella had a good week returned on Friday the 6th as my bit of paper requested.
I have since been trying to find out if or how much I have to pay. The ticket I have says pay at Multibanco, CTT or Payshop. Easy? No, Multibanco will allow me to pay but does not know the amount, so I went to the Payshop.
They couldn’t help me and sent me to CTT who said I could only pay at the Payshop, so off I went back to the Payshop who were very helpful and sent me back to CTT.
By this time, I was starting to think I am wasting my time here but I wasn’t ready to give up. It was a nice sunny day and the fresh air was doing me good.
Of course the Via Verde office would have the answer, so I paid a visit to the office to be told they know nothing but they knew a man that did and I would find him at the Payshop so, I thought third time lucky, I will try one more time.
That man in the Payshop said try CTT who sent me to the Via Verde office who gave me a phone number to call. I returned home, made the phone call, spoke to a very nice lady in English who told me how much I had to pay but did not know where I could pay it.
She asked for my phone number and email address and would call or email me the details for paying this – and that was the last I heard from her. But now armed with the amount I had to pay, I went to the Multibanco and paid. As easy as that.
PAUL BEAHAN, by email
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