Disabled motorist loses discrimination claim over delay at toll bridge

RTÉ News​

16-05-2025

A disabled driver who made a statutory complaint over being held up for less than two minutes when a toll bridge camera misread his car's number plate has lost his discrimination claim.
The Workplace Relations Commission has rejected a claim under the Equal Status Act 2000 against North Link M1 Ltd, the operator of the tolled section of the M1 motorway in counties Meath and Louth.
The claimant, David Tyrell, is a beneficiary of the Disability Toll Exemption Scheme (DTES), which allows adapted vehicles for disabled drivers use toll roads for free, the WRC heard last month.
On 2 October 2024, Mr Tyrell arrived to a toll plaza on the M1 motorway in his car and proceeded into an unmanned lane. His car's registration "appeared on the screen", but the barrier did not open, he said in evidence to the WRC.
When he pressed a call button to get help, a control room operator asked him for the registration number "even though she should have been able to read [it] on the screen", he told the tribunal.
The operator told him the number he gave was incorrect, but then proceeded to read out the correct number for his car," he said.
His evidence was that he told the worker: "If you know my number, why are you asking for it?" Her response was: "Don't be so smart, and you shouldn't be in this lane anyway," he said.
He went on his way when the barrier was lifted, the WRC heard.
The control room operator on the day, Louise McMullen, said she greeted Mr Tyrell as normal and asked him if he had paid because she "did not know he was exempt". Her evidence was that she could only see the registration number on a screen rather than "a visual of any car" and could not see his DTES disc.
When the issue arose, she "realised there had to be a digit missing" from the registration number captured on the system, and that was why she asked him to call out the number and proceeded to search the plate number on the Motor Tax system.
Ms McMullen said this took a minute to do. In all, Mr Tyrell and his passenger waited "1.47 minutes" at the barrier before it was lifted, the tribunal heard.
She said Mr Tyrell "seemed annoyed" with her, but denied telling him: "Don't be smart." She said her supervisor was right beside her and she would "never say such a thing anyway".
She acknowledged that she did tell him: "If you use the operator lanes in the future, it'll be quicker."
Mr Tyrell's position was that he "should be allowed to use unmanned toll lanes just as non-disabled drivers do". He also contended that he should not have had to speak with the worker about his status as a beneficiary of the toll exemption scheme as it meant disclosing his disability to his passenger, he said.
He added that the way the worker spoke to him, treated him and delayed him were also discriminatory.
Sinead Morgan of DAC Beachcroft, appearing for the toll operator, submitted that the DTES guidelines advised pass-holders to use a manned lane so that if a registration plat was misread by the system, "a staff member can quickly see a DTES disc and lift the barrier without any questions being asked". Mr Tyrell accepted under cross-examination that he had not read the DTES guidelines.
Adjudicator Emile Daly accepted Mr Tyrell "did not know all this" in regard to how the system worked and that that he believed discrimination was at play when he took his claim.
"Had he read the DTES guidelines, he would have learned that using a manned toll lane was for his benefit, not to his detriment," she added.
She wrote that she was satisfied "no prohibited conduct took place" and rejected Mr Tyrell's Equal Status Act complaint.