irismary

The card reader at the Guadiana border crossing has been broken for at least two months; whatever you do it replies 'error reading card'.
And its not just me, today there was a small traffic jam at the border toll booth, made up of confused people asking each other 'What do I do now?' in several languages.
Does this mean that the Authorities, (Whom God Preserve) have given up on the idea of charging, or will they still be logging failures to pay as OUR fault, for which a fine is clearly due?
I know that it is possible to pay the toll at the Olheo Service station, but I'm sure that most people don't, and there still isn't a notice at the border toll booth to tell them about it.
I don't mind paying (though I'd rather not) but I don't want to jump through hoops to pay. Have you tried the Scratch card system they use , if you are going anywhere but Faro airport?
What do you do?

EsuriJohn

bitmanev

toll is still working as my transponder is still beeping when passing a gate

Jon-Bxl

You have misunderstood the problem, Bitmanev, its nothing to do about the transponder but the credit card reader.

When renting a car ... With no transponder (or if you dont want to pay the supplement for it) You can pay the tolls from 2-5 days from passing under the auto-tolls. Go to any payshop or post Office in our area of PT (we've used the PO in Castro Marim - there is also a payshop there). PO easier to find.

On the final trip back to the airport take the 125 or leave the reg no with a friend and ask them to pay in 2-5 days from your last use of the toll.

Thanks for the advice on the scratch card I didnt know about that. Also if you pay at Olhao are you required to take the N2 ''shortcut" (before the footy stadium exit) so that the last toll there isnt registered?

Jon

guesswork

Mine worked 3 weeks ago after I cleaned the back on the card and tried putting it in the machine the correct way round . My card is UK one

rafikiphoto

It's a perennial problem with our Caixa cards at those toll booths. For at least a couple of years as I recall. We were through there at the New Year and none of them worked, again. As soon as I put in my UK Mastercard it worked immediately, always does. Strangely, the same Caixa cards worked every time at multiple French tolls just a few weeks ago.

bitmanev

don't think so if you can read;

Jon-Bxl

Thats unnecessarily rude ''if you can read"

I think most people who read this thread will see its about payment, card reading problems and who is at fault if their machines are not working. What you will have learned is that UK cards (appear to) work.

So you have failed to change my mind.

Now, see if you can 'read' something into this :-
' Pot + kettle + black '

MikeJ

Probably explains why there is a long queue of Spanish cars at peak times when the Brits seem to sail through no problem.
We get all superior about the queues and the fact that the whole family has to get out and look at the machine

Mind you when we came through the border in N PT the reader took several attempts before it would read my card - and I only had 1 credit card all my other cards are debit which won't work.

rafikiphoto

I guess it could be a glitch in the PT/ES card clearance system as the same ES cards work instantly on toll booths in France. Or, perhaps, the Spanish banks aren't happy giving carte blanche to PT to charge cards at will as French tolls are for a specific amount.

magnus44

Fran Esuri

You can buy prepaid cards, for example at the gas station Olhao, at the motorway.

magnus44

Fran Esuri

And there is no problem to use the motorway till the gas station to buy the pre paid card. You have 24 hours time to register the card with an sms with your phone. Later when I'm in my car I will make a foto from that card. They explain there in English as well how it works.

Fran Esuri

Her are the fotos. Sorry for the delay. I'm getting older😊.
When you sent this sms with the code, you'll receive during the day a message back with another code. With this code and your license plate, you will have access to the toll website.
​​ And there you can see how much do you have left or how much do you owe them.
Hasta luego.
Fran