Chasing down toll dodgers

Twenty-six toll dodgers have driven the Northern Gateway toll road more than 100 times each without paying since it opened in January.

Now the Transport Authority has handed over their details to debt collectors.

Motorists have three days to pay before being charged an extra fee of $2.20 - a penalty slapped on 76,000 trips so far.

After that they are a liable for a $40 infringement fee for non-payment - but so far the authority has been lenient.

It has referred toll dodgers with multiple unpaid trips to debt collectors and the cost of recovering the money will be added to their debt. But the authority is yet to start issuing infringement notices for unpaid tolls.

In the first six month's of operation, the transport agency collected $3.9 million in toll payments for the road and tunnel near Puhoi, north of Auckland.