Saturday 6 September 2008

M50 taking its toll on Irish drivers


What's the official line on Ireland's attractiveness for the multinationals? It's because we are a young, intelligent, educated workforce, isn't it? Nothing, of course, to do with us prostituting ourselves by means of corporate tax breaks. A ploy, by the way, that the new EU accession states will soon copy - leaving the Irish begging, somewhat belatedly, for a common EU-wide tax policy.

But whatever about all that, perhaps it is best that US Inc. does not hear about some Irish drivers' cunning ruse to avoid paying tolls on M50, which has just switched from toll booths to electronic barrier-free tolling, by means of tags and number plate recognition.

While avoiding paying tolls on the M50 is commendable - after all, we motorists have paid for the West Link bridge a thousandfold by now, after dodgy Government dealings with private sector cronies - even Gombeen Man was embarrassed at the lack of guile displayed by motorists in this instance.

It seems that the would-be rebels covered their registration plates to avoid the cameras catching them. So far, so good, I hear you say.

So how did our intrepid authorities find them out? By advanced digital photographic enhancement? Clever police work? Fellow roadusers phoning Traffic Watch on their mobiles, as they drive?

No. It seems that they only covered their cars' front plates, leaving the the rear ones untouched for the cameras to capture all. There's no hope, there really isn't.

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