Ontario Transportation Minister Harinder Takhar says the company that runs the 407 toll highway hasn't solved the glitches that have plagued its customer-service system. And until it does, he says, no one will be denied a sticker for their licence plate for not paying a toll.
The company, 407 ETR, launched a court action last week to try to force the provincial Registrar of Motor Vehicles to resume withholding licence-plate renewals from drivers who refuse to pay their 407 bills, a group 407 ETR says now owes $16-million.
Company spokesman Dale Albers said 407 ETR believes the registrar has "no legal authority" to continue to allow debtor drivers to renew their plates.
But Mr. Takhar says that under the Highway Traffic Act, the registrar's office -- an independent, quasi-judicial body -- has the right not to enforce the plate-denial scheme until it is satisfied the 407's customer-service problems are a thing of the past.
"I read horror stories in the newspapers, all the time," Mr. Takhar said yesterday. "I hope they do resolve it and treat customers as customers."
Mr. Takhar said his ministry gets at least 50 complaints a month about 407 ETR billing problems -- up from an average of 30 a month last year.
Mr. Albers said that since 2000, 407 ETR has built a 13,000-square-foot call centre, hired hundreds of customer-service staffers and installed new computer-billing software. The average wait time on its hot line is now just 30 seconds, he said. And the 407 has set up a new arbitration process for customers who disagree with their toll charges.
He argued that the 50 complaints the government says it has received must be put in context: The 407 handles, on average, 320,000 trips a day.
"The last thing we want to do is to deny someone the right to drive. We want people to drive. But if they drive on the 407, we expect them to pay their bills," Mr. Albers said.
He could not provide figures about how many customer complaints 407 ETR itself receives.
The company and the previous Conservative government agreed to suspend the plate-denial scheme in 2000 due to customer-service problems.
Drivers were charged for trips they didn't make -- something the government says is still happening. And many were unable to get through to the 407 to challenge their bills, or even to pay it, before their licence-plate renewal deadlines.
Problems do persist. Investment manager Peter Wiggan tries to avoid the 407 if he can, ever since a series of billing problems last year left him fuming. He says he was charged twice after driving on the highway with his camping trailer behind his vehicle.
It took a long time to get the error corrected over the phone, he says. And then it happened at least two more times.
He says he would avoid the 407 completely if the company again had to power to make it impossible for him to renew his licence plates if he refused to pay.
Jeff Gray