Some users undertake collective action against the motorway companies. They challenge toll charges considered too high five portions built for decades, said Friday the lawyer Corinne Lepage in “Le Parisien”
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After the Court of Auditors and the Minister of Ecology, today is the turn motorists to rebel against dealers motorway companies. These come in order to bind them against collective action, announced Friday, the lawyer and former Minister of the Environment Corinne Lepage in “Le Parisien”. They contest the tariffs, deemed too high, tolls on motorways A 1, A 6, A 7, A 9 and A 13 motorways built five decades.
“ We rely in particular on a report of the Court of Accounts July 2013 deploring rate increases well above inflation and spoke of a balance of power favorable to dealers and public authorities, “ explains Corinne Lepage, who is coordinating this action. “ But these companies do not take into account. These practices are still at work, it generates billing for the user (…) The toll rate has nothing to do with the cost of service , “she observes.
Their goal? Require motorway companies’ the right price of toll ticket (…) We estimate that the current rate is at least 20% higher than it should be. “
Site lawyers
Former government minister Alain Juppé (1995-1997) moved closer to a legal site Actioncivile.com, to mount a collective action. Specifically, the motorists who use the axes can from this Friday, February 13 and until June, complete an online form available on the website and request a refund of 20%. Only requirement: to have the highway A 1, A 6, A 7, and A 9 and A 13 in the last five years and be able to justify it with a toll ticket. She hopes to collect up to 50,000 requests.
Why did you choose these highways? Because it is the oldest. Built under General de Gaulle in the years 1960-1970, “ their construction cost is amortized for a long time ,” alleges Corinne Lepage (see his interview in “Le Parisien”). “ They are not amortized ” assert the contrary concession operators on the website of the Association of French motorway companies (ASFA). According to her, the published folder in “Le Parisien” is not based on “no legal or economic reality “. Since privatization in 2006, the motorway companies claim that they have invested 15 billion euros in the expansion and improvement of the motorway network. “ Tolls are thus the counterpart of all financial commitments made by the companies on behalf of the State ,” adds ASFA
Mediation before the courts
How are disgruntled motorists do? First, the initiators of collective action plan to make a request for mediation with motorway companies. But if it does not result in a period of one month, appeals will be filed with the courts. “ The user must pay the right price ” insists Corinne Lepage.
This initiative represents the opening of a new front for motorway companies already engaged for months in a standoff with the state. These companies have appealed to the State Council after the government’s decision to suspend the increase in toll rates (for fees of any motorway route, click here). The government has also set up a working group on the future of highway concessions.
Last Saturday, President François Hollande – who inaugurated a stretch of highway in his stronghold between Brive and Tulle (Corrèze), wished “prompt, global and definitive “of such litigation. Asked about collective action coordinated by Corinnne Lepage, Finance Minister Michel Sapin, he said Friday on i & gt; TV that it was a “good idea (…) especially the current context where we have negotiations with these highways “. “ I do not know what comes of it, or how far things will , he continued, saying that Corinne Lepage” says what many of us say, there have been increases in tolls in the past that were well above inflation increases “
Dealers companies, backed by the French construction giant Eiffage and Vinci, as well as Spanish Abertis, world leader in highway management They exploit. 9048 km of French motorways, existing 11,882.
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