A number of Canberra drivers will be refunded after toll operators charged them for trips made by other motorists.
NSW Motorways (Etoll) and Transurban (Linkt) have apologised to affected motorists after the toll operators received complaints.
Transport Minister Chris Steel had also written to the toll operators asking for quick refunds to affected Canberrans.
The operators blamed the bungled charges on duplicate cross-border number plates
“The issue has arisen due to the increased prevalence of NSW specialty license plates beginning with the letter Y,” a spokesperson for NSW Motorways and Transurban said in a statement.
Most ACT licence plates begin with a Y after a 1968 decision by the now defunct Australian Transport Advisory Council.
“This overlap has led in some instances to misidentifications in tolling systems where a vehicle with a duplicate plate travels on a NSW toll road,” the spokesperson explained.
The unlucky scenario
The operators said they believed the issue was not widespread.
ACT drivers charged for trips on Sydney toll roads they did not take
They have described a scenario in which a NSW driver might have a specialty number plate beginning with a Y but no e-tag. The incorrect charge would then arise if a Canberra driver with the same registration did have an e-tag, leading to that account being wrongly charged.
The ABC has spoken to a number of affected Canberrans who said they initially found it very difficult to deal with toll operator Linkt.
The toll operators have promised to work with ACT authorities to identify the duplicate registrations and add them to a manual watch list.
They have also said they will establish a hotline for those affected but are yet to provide those details.