Illinois Tollway tickets sent to wrong Minnesota drivers
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Attorney General Lori Swanson said her office has received complaints from many motorists who received tickets, even though they weren't driving in Illinois at the time of the tollway violation.
In some cases, the tollway system photographed license plates but then used outdated license information, ticketing the wrong people, Swanson said.
Illinois Tollway spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis said officials were made aware of the problems in March and adjusted their policies. She said officials haven't heard about any additional complaints since then but will review the letter Swanson sent to Illinois officials.
"It should not be an issue for anyone from here on out," McGinnis said.
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In the letter, Swanson requests a moratorium on mailing tickets to Minnesota car owners and asks them to stop collection agencies from threatening Minnesotans who haven't paid alleged fines.
Swanson said Illinois officials have offered a forum where citizens can file complaints, but she told them in the letter that that isn't good enough.
"It is unfair for the tollway to place the burden on Minnesota citizens to correct the errors of a faulty system," she wrote. "Allowing a citizen to object to an improperly-issued ticket should not be a substitute for ensuring that tickets are properly issued to the correct owner in the first place."
The letter was sent to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, the state's Inspector General and the director of the Illinois Tollway.
McGinnis said part of the problem was that unlike in some states, all Illinois drivers keep their license plates when they sell or buy a vehicle, so there is little possibility that a toll violator would have a license plate connected to another car owner.
She said Minnesota drivers who received tickets were cleared of the violations after showing documentation of when they bought or sold the car in question.
"We were not aware that there were any ongoing issues," McGinnis said.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
