Brisbane Tunnel Clem7 operators fine wheelchair woman

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Clem7 operators fine wheelchair woman

by: Cayla Dengate From: The Courier-Mail January 14, 2012 12:00AM

A 62-YEAR-OLD paraplegic woman who lives on an island and hasn't driven in three years has been fined for travelling through the Clem7 on her motorised wheelchair.

Jean Gordon of Macleay Island was shocked to find an invoice for a trip through the Brisbane tollway in last Friday's mail as she hadn't driven a car since December 2008 long before the tollway opened.

"When I had a spinal injury a couple of years ago, obviously I had to sell my car so it took me two or three goes to work out what the Clem 7 fine was for,'' she said.

"Eventually I realised (the infringement notice) matched my wheelchair's registration.''

Ms Gordon insists she's no two-wheeled hoon.

"I'd never drive my wheelchair through the tunnel I value my life too much.''

She said the story had become an online hit among the Macleay Island community where she lives and works as a business consultant. ``A friend put it on Facebook and everybody seemed to think it was just absurd,'' she said.

"The likelihood of me zooming through the Clem7 is so very remote.''

A spokeswoman for Clem7 owner RiverCity Motorway Group said the fine had been retracted.

"A human error was made when processing the licence plate for this trip, which resulted in an incorrect toll invoice being generated,'' a spokeswoman said.

"A representative has contacted Jean Gordon and apologised for the error.''

A spokeswoman for Clem7 owner RiverCity Motorway Group refused to say how often people were wrongly charged for using the tollway, saying number plates of all unpaid cars using the toll were read by staff opposed to a computer automated system.

National Information Communications Technology Australia technology manager Abbas Bigdeli said smart computers would soon replace staff for simple reading tasks.

"Human error is common,'' he said. "The global trend is towards Automated Number Plate Recognition software. Old-fashioned systems rely on people but the most mature Automated Number Plate Recognition systems can read the plate, search for the registration and send out the fine it's quick, accurate and cost-effective.''