Toll station
We had a very unpleasant experience last November. We came from Beja and took the motorway to the Algarve. We passed the tollgate and wondered where to pay. The station looked deserted and we did not see any sign. So we thought that the tollgate was not in use yet. As we reached Paderne, there was another tollgate and a lady was sitting in one of them. So we thought ‘ok, here we have to pay’. To our surprise, the lady asked if we had a ticket, which, of course, we did not have. So, because we had no ticket, we had to pay 49.30 euros.
We were in shock. How could we have known that we had to get a ticket, when we did not see any sign and we don’t understand Portuguese? We feel that we have gone into a trap for tourists, which is an easy way for you to make money. Anyway, one cannot cheat when there is another tollgate at the exit of the motorway. And, of course, it was never our intention to cheat. But we feel we have been cheated.
Heidi Ellingsen, by e-mail
Editor: If any of our readers have experienced a similar situation, we would like to hear from you. Send your story to me at [email protected]
