A South Florida newspaper deliverywoman said she received a collection letter threatening to suspend her license if she didn’t pay for tolls that were wrongly billed to her.
But after NBC 6 contacted the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority and showed it a photo of Gloria Morales’ car and a snapshot of another car it claimed was hers, the agency dismissed the charges against her.
Morales uses her 2007 Dodge Caravan to deliver newspapers every morning. Though the paper route she’s had for 21 years doesn’t take her on the expressway, in August she began receiving bills from the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, or MDX, claiming she owed them $1.50 because she went through a toll plaza without a SunPass transponder.
"That car is not mine," Morales said in Spanish, pointing at a picture of a vehicle that appeared on a bill.
Mark Pacin, an attorney who represents Morales, explained that when you get one of those bills it usually has a picture of your car and a blown-up image of your license plate.
"In this case they have a picture of a Hyundai, she doesn’t own a Hyundai and then they have a picture of the Hyundai badge which is on the vehicle, which is clearly not her license plate but then they’re tagging it to her license plate," Pacin said.
The first time Morales got the bill she complained and MDX removed the charge but a month later she got another bill, followed by two more that included late charges. Two months later she received a collection letter stating that if she didn't pay she would have her license suspended.
Pacin said "if her license was suspended, as a delivery driver for a major newspaper company she wouldn’t be able to continue working."
NBC 6 contacted MDX and sent it a picture of Morales’ car along with the snapshot of the car in the bill. A few hours later the agency sent a statement saying "Ms. Morales was incorrectly billed because the license plate was misread. The charges were dismissed on 11/21/13 and the account balance is zero."
Mario Diaz with MDX also told NBC 6 they "have also noted the account for verification before sending her any other invoices.”
Morales and her attorney said they were told it was a glitch that couldn’t be corrected. They hope the issue really goes away this time but fear it could still be a problem for others.
"Obviously it is a flawed system, " Pacin said.
He believes MDX needs "to go back to the drawing board before they get rid of all the employees working the toll plazas to put in the Toll-By-Plate to ensure that it is working properly."
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