French motorway company makes U-turn on ±čĆ©²¹²µ±š bills
French motorway company Vinci Autoroutes will no longer demand that drivers pay back the āfreeā ±čĆ©²¹²µ±š passages they received during gilets jaunes protests, after a government backlash.
Vinci Autoroutes, which manages the countryās motorways and ±čĆ©²¹²µ±š²õ, had previously announced that it would be sending follow-up bills in the post to all drivers who had been allowed to pass through ±čĆ©²¹²µ±š booths without paying.
The company said that it would not impose extra fines - as would normally the case for drivers who manage to get past a ±čĆ©²¹²µ±š without paying - but said that it needed to recuperate some of the money lost to pay for damage inflicted by protesters to ±čĆ©²¹²µ±š booths, road signs and other āvandalismā.
It also said that āthousands of people spontaneously called our customer service department to settle upā even before the company announced its plans.
But , including criticism from the government, has now forced the company to perform a U-turn on the controversial decision.
Benjamin Griveaux, secretary of State for the Prime Minister, : āI find this very incongruous. This is not a good way to behave in this current period.ā
Minister for transport Elisabeth Borne she found it difficult to ābelieve that the non-payment at the ±čĆ©²¹²µ±š was done voluntarily by drivers...legally, Vinci cannot allow itself to send bills to driversā.
In a statement, Vinci Autoroutes : āThis procedure was without doubt not well-explained, and was therefore misunderstood, and provoked a great deal of negative reactions. [As a consequence we will] renounce our demands.ā
The company has estimated that the protests - including fires, vandalism and breakages - caused āseveral dozen million eurosā worth of damage across 250 Vinci sites, including ±čĆ©²¹²µ±š booths, road signs, road markings, intervention vehicles, and barriers.
But ecology minister FranƧois de Rugy appeared to defend Vinci.
: āWhether the repairs are paid for by insurance, by the State or by Vinci Autoroutes, in all cases the public will be penalised by these repeated attacks on public property.
āIt will no doubt be the State that will have to pay a large part of the bills, and that is going to be an extra spend simply to repair the damage or shore up financial losses. Or, it will have repercussions in one way or another on the motorway [toll] costs, which is a shame.ā
Some protesters are still on-site at several Vinci-owned ±čĆ©²¹²µ±š booths, the company said, and it warned the public to be alert.
It said: āWe [advise] great caution when approaching the ±čĆ©²¹²µ±š²õ and access to motorways, where numerous pedestrians are present.ā
