The company that won the contract was Toll Collect, a newly formed company with three share holders. Daimler Chrysler 45%, Deutsch Telekom 45% and Configoute 10%. These companies are a Truck and Telematics provider, a Telecoms company and a French toll collection company respectively. They have shamelessly contrived a toll collection system that promotes their own products. In an attempt to corner the market for onboard computers (from Daimler Chrysler) that use GSM phone connections (from Deutsch Telekom) they have invented an over complicated and awkward system for their own interests.

The system that they have contrived means that, unlike the London Congestion charging scheme, transport operators will have to pre-book each motorway journey in advance unless they have installed one of Daimler Chryslers onboard computers. The enforcement system that has been put in place consists of 300 camera gantries and 278 vehicles which check to see if a truck has a Daimler Chrysler onboard computer installed, if it has the vehicle is ignored, if it hasn't they check to see if the toll has been prepaid. Any vehicle that does not have one of their onboard computers and has not prepaid will be escorted off the motorway and fined.

This is overcomplicated nonsense designed to push proprietary Daimler Chryslers onboard computers onto transport operators. The burden for transport companies of working out exactly how many motorway miles that they will be doing each day, before they start work, is ridiculous,. But what a great way to force transport companies to install your onboard Telematics system.

In contrast, the London Congestion charging scheme, does not require anyone to either prepay or install an onboard computer. The London system simply records the registration number of all vehicles that enter the toll zone and compares that with a list of people that have paid the toll later that same day through either retail sites, an Internet site or by telephone. For fleet operators the London scheme is even easier to use, operators can simply register their vehicles and the system will automatically bill them later on.

People don't generally like toll systems but at least the London scheme is simple and effective and does not require people to install onboard computers or prepay their toll charges so why are the Germans trying so hard to push onboard computers? Well, the turnover in telematics systems for transport and logistics companies in Europe is predicted to increase from € 160 million in 2001 to around € 4.7 billion in 2009 and this lot think that they can use the German Governments toll collection scheme to corner this market.