Misread license plate shows system is flawed
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (WPIX) — When Termain Brice gets into his Dodge Durango, he doesn’t typically drive into Manhattan.
So imagine his surprise when he checked his EZPass account and discovered he repeatedly was getting hit with the $9 toll.
“My license plate was detected going through the congestion pricing zone, someone from Brooklyn into Manhattan,” he said.
The UPS driver, who lives in White Plains, says he immediately called EZ Pass.
“After haggling with them for a while, they gave me back my money. But that very same day, I got another message that I went through the congestion pricing again.”
It happened again and again, sending his account into the red. Finally, he said the EZPass representative alerted him that a car with a similar vanity plate was getting mistaken for his own.
Brice’s plate displays a New York Giants logo and the word “BACKUP.” The plate going through the congestion zone had a Boston Red Sox logo, a large “B,” and then the word “ACKUP.”
That one letter apparently made a big difference. To make matters worse, they told him they couldn’t immediately fix the problem.
PIX11 News called the MTA to try and get answers. The agency responded quickly, resolving the issue and refunding him within hours. It sent us this statement which said:
“The issue has been resolved, should not happen again, and the customer will be credited any tolls that were due. There have been relatively few cases of inadvertent billing errors, and in those cases, the MTA provides credit to affected motorists as appropriate.”
“Had [PIX11] not made that phone call for me on my behalf, I would probably still be waiting,” Brice said.
“My advice to anybody is to keep checking invoices get the app and if you see something wrong you need to call them immediately,” he said.
Brice said he was advised he could also opt to switch his license plate. While the proud Giants fan doesn’t feel he should have to do that, he has ordered new Brooklyn Nets plates, which he plans on putting on his car soon.
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