For Whom the Toll Bills.

My thanks are due to Roy Clarke, a regular reader of my blog who emailed me recently with observations and instructions on paying the controversial and pretty universally unpopular tolls which came into force  on the A22 "Via Do Infante De Sagres" motor way in December last year .
 There are no toll booths on the motorway itself and you have to go into a post office or pay point shop to pay your tolls if you do not hire an electronic box which you can "charge up" with cash to pay automatically.

The problem with paying at a shop or post office is that there is a 2 day time lag between you incurring the charges and them appearing on the system therefor when returning to the airport by the motorway many visitors leave unpaid bills on their hire car.
When you go to the shop or PO to pay you simply give them the registration number of the vehicle and they tell you what is owed and this could well include charges incurred by someone else who has not paid.
There is no breakdown of the charges so you can not argue and the option you have is pay it all or pay nothing. There is no way they can or will accept the lesser amount that is your charge.
Reader Willie from Dublin has fallen foul of this and finished up paying someonelse's tolls along with his own.

Apart from the post office which is in the Junta de Fergusia (Parish Council) building on the Social Housing estate at the rear of the village you can pay at 2 other places in SL.

Horatios

Jogos a casa 

Both are situated on Rua. Capitao Jorge Ribeiro  (see my new map page for directions)  Horatio's is a local minimercado where beside paying your tolls, recharging your Portuguese mobile and paying your domestic bills you can buy everything from a loaf of bread to domestic electric appliances. (It may not be on show but believe me he will have it). Jogos a casa is the lottery shop some 200 meters further down the road.                                                                                                                                                                                    
Roy tells me he has successfully paid his bill at Horatio's but points out that his limited English can be a draw back should you wish to query anything.                                                     Horatio I believe understands more English than people realise but struggles to find the words when speaking English.His son on the other hand speaks excellent English so if he is working then problem solved.

Jogos a casa is actually under new management and has only recently introduced the pay point facility so I know very little of the proprietors but I would venture to suggest that there is less likely to be any kind of queue here.

Roy finally points out that as you need no paperwork to pay the bill but simply quote the car's registration number you can leave cash with a trusted friend to pay the tolls you incur on the way back to the airport.
 However as I stated earlier the real problem is that should there be any outstanding charges on the car when you hire it there is no facility to pay your own charges only. It is "all or nothing" and though I only have anecdotal evidence it would appear that this injustice is causing many otherwise honest citizens to say "OK nothing it is!!"