Luckily I didnt vote for Tan Kin Lian

[BuiKia]

My car pass a ERP gantry point with the ERP card not properly inserted. I discovered it immediately and called to inform LTA. They said, "wait for the notice".

The ERP notice came one week later. The ERP fee was $1 and the fine was $10. I wonder why the LTA refused to collect the $1 from me, when I found the mistake. They wanted to impose the fine of $10 for the oversight. This is inconsiderate. They government wants to make a profit from an honest mistake!

I am aware that the LTA did have some administrative work to print and mail the notice. But this is work that they create for themselves under their system. If they have a friendlier system, they could have taken my report and notify the computer that the matter was settled. But, the LTA preferred to follow their own procedure, for their own convenience, and impost a cost on the citizens.

I hope that our government leaders and civil servants realize that they have to treat the people fairly and not impose a burden on them.

Tan Kin Lian @ http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/

 

[halsey02]

TKL : "hello" ah!, I pass ERP at...... my cash card, no insert, poperly, no deduct, I call you, inform you, ah"
LTA phone operator : "Yawn", I air v day hear same story lah!, ok, thank you for calling, you wait ah!, wait for notice"
LTA phone operator : " Thank you for calling LTA" <click>

 

[RonRon]

the cheapskate lost $47k deposit, now $1 ERP also want to con LTA..

 

[halsey02]

the cheapskate lost $47k deposit, now $1 ERP also want to con LTA..

The old saying "pennywise pound foolish".

 

[leetahbar]

$10 barely enough for adminstrative process and wasted so many people's time and effort.

usually, LTA would slap a $70 fine. no waiver.

 

[LeMans2011]

There is wisdom in the old saying "nobody will think you are dumb if you keep your mouth shut".
Just look at TKL, GMS and the likes... ghosh... birds of the same feather do flock together.

 

[Fook Seng]

He has a legitimate point. Singapore is one of very countries (honestly, I don't know of any other) that will fine you for things like this and we have been bullied for so long to take this quietly.

Take for example the MRT. If you have entered the gate with insufficient credit in your card, you just add cash in all other countries. In Singapore, you have to pay a fine.

Another example is parking coupons. If you have insufficient value in your coupons, you get a fine. A lot of cases you have wrongly estimated your time and you cannot just walk out of the meeting or queue to top up your coupons. This is a problem with the system. In fact, I welcome the ERP system for this.

In London, the CBD charging works in a more civilized way. They have cameras and sensors within the CBD area. You do not need to have a pre-determined credit in any card system. All they require you to do is to pay up, on line if possible, within the next 24 hours, failing which the rate will increase. This means that you will not be caught with "innocent mistake" as TKL has described as you have 24 hours to make your payment. Furthermore if you live within the CBD, you can register your car as a local inhabitant and you are exempted from paying the toll.

The Singapore government first assumption is you are a cheat and impose a fine for that, even though it is the shortcoming of a system put in place to save money for the govt (versus the cost of using manpower).

 

[neddy]

The ERP notice came one week later. The ERP fee was $1 and the fine was $10. I wonder why the LTA refused to collect the $1 from me, when I found the mistake.

I support TKL on this case.

If the objective of ERP is to reduce congestion, there is no need to impose a $10 fine. He should just pay the $1.

At the rate Singaporeans are getting punished for little things like that, no wonder the government is getting so much complaints.
This type of minor details just add to the stress of living in Singapore.
If anyone bother to call up to own an honest mistake, just give that person the benefit of doubt and get on with life.