Tourist Eva P., a Hungarian national, paid €1,200 to Austria’s toll-road operator ASFINAG after a dispute over what the company called an incorrectly affixed motorway vignette. The payment closed three alternative toll-charge requests linked to the sticker and a fourth tied to the Gleinalm section of the road.
“The vignette on her car was not affixed correctly, as required by law, which made it invalid,” said an ASFINAG spokesperson, according to Vecernji List. Because the sticker was deemed unusable, three penalty notices of €120 were issued, and a separate €840 demand covered the Gleinalm stretch, bringing the total to an amount the reports described as 96.7 times the standard vignette price.
P. and her niece from Australia drove through Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Zell am See and Graz during a ten-day trip in April. She later explained that she had only partially stuck the vignette “to remove it more easily” once the journey ended, she told the Austrian daily Heute.
“What was supposed to be a pleasant trip turned into a nightmare,” said P., adding that the fines left her with “a bitter taste,” according to Vecernji List.
After returning home, she received multiple €120 notices in the mail. P. sent ASFINAG photos of the vignette and the retail receipt, but the operator rejected the appeal. “We make no exceptions, not even for tourists,” said the company spokesperson, adding that the case had been forwarded to district authorities when P. missed the initial payment deadline.
The tourist settled the entire amount to avoid a court case abroad. “I paid nearly 100 times the normal price,” she noted.
Austrian rules require that the vignette be fully and visibly attached to the windshield; partial or temporary placement invalidates the sticker and triggers alternative toll charges. ASFINAG enforces the system through mobile patrols, fixed cameras and post-trip license-plate audits, with unpaid fees escalating to district administrative offices and potential court action.
Written with the help of a news-analysis system.