A couple were furious after they say they were handed a fine they "were unable to pay" because they were in a hire car.
Clive Johnson and his wife Sandie travelled through the Tyne Tunnel while on a three-week holiday in the UK.
The South African couple rented their vehicle from Europcar en-route from Edinburgh, Midlothian to Whitby, North Yorkshire
Clive, 76, and Sandie, 69, tried to pay the £1.90 fee online but when they confirmed they were in a hire care there was no option to progress or pay.
Sandie tried to call Tyne Tunnel but was unable to get answers from the automated system.
The couple, who are originally from the UK but have lived in South Africa for more than 40 years, told ChronicleLive they asked Europcar at Heathrow Airport in London about the tunnel toll fee when they returned the car.
The couple asked whether it would be automatically debited from their credit card, as their details were already held by the firm
But staff said they had never heard of the Tyne Tunnel and claimed to have no idea.
Last month, the couple had £71.90 charged to their credit card.
Clive was told by Europcar this was made up of the £1.90 toll charge and a £30 fine for not paying for the Tyne Tunnel. The remaining £40 was taken by Europcar as an administration fee.
They contacted Tyne Tunnel 2 (TT2), which operates the Tyne Tunnel, on October 27 to appeal the decision.
Clive received a reply which they said they were unable to identify any technical difficulties with their payment options that would have impacted on their ability to pay.
Sandie, who works as a life skills educator, said: "We are furious. We are pensioners and we can't afford this.
"Just because we had a holiday in the UK doesn't mean we are wealthy, we stayed with friends and family.
"We're not going to starve but it's the principle. We want our money back, we want it refunded as soon as possible. It's disgusting, the whole thing is disgusting."
The couple, who now live in Blairgowrie, a suburb of Johannesburg, visited the UK between September 10 and 29.
They followed a satnav which suggested the quickest route from Edinburgh to Whitby was the A19 via the Tyne Tunnel.
The pair tried a number of times on their phones to pay the £1.90 toll fee via the online payment system but after answering "yes" to the question "Is this a hire car?" there was no option to pay.
Sandie added: "There's big signs saying you have to pay £1.90 or would could be fined up to £100. Of course that scared us, I was very keen to pay the £1.90.
"Before I phoned, I got on to the online payment option. It said 'Is this a hire care?' so I said 'yes' and I could not go any further to get to the point of payment.
"I got through to a voice of some description. I think it was some type of artificial intelligence robot thing, it wasn't fit for purpose. It wasn't an understandable answer to my question."
The couple claim Tyne Tunnels 2, which operates the Tyne Tunnel, is making it "impossible" for anyone with a hire car to pay the £1.90 charge and say should be an easier way to pay.
Clive said: "We got to the tunnel and expected to pay by cash or card but there was nothing available for that.
"There's no way you can turn back so we went through the tunnel and expected to pay at the other end but there was nothing.
"It's not just people from overseas who are affected it's anybody that hires a car. You have got people from Britain and people from England that don't have their own car.
"I would like as many people as possible warned to take an alternative route to their destination if at all possible until such time as Tyne Tunnel clean up their act."
A spokesperson for TT2 said: "Mr and Mrs Johnson did not pay their toll within the payment window so, correctly, the owners of the vehicle – Europcar – were automatically issued with unpaid toll charge notices (UTCNs).
"We are sorry to hear that Mr and Mrs Johnson feel frustrated about their experience. In response to customer feedback, we recently made – and thoroughly tested - a number of improvements to our website to make it easier for rental car drivers to understand how to pay for passage.
"It is unclear why Mr and Mrs Johnson experienced difficulty in paying.
TT2 added: "We are unable to find any record of the customer contacting our Customer Experience team within the payment window.
"This complaint is currently being investigated by the owners of the tunnels – the North East Combined Authority - and Mr and Mrs Johnson will hear the outcome of that in due course."
A spokesperson for the hire car firm said: "As stated in the company’s terms and conditions, the customer is responsible for all fines that arise during the rental period.
"In the event Europcar is contacted by an ‘issuing body’ with a fine notification, the company will either make payment (to avoid it increasing in value) or transfer liability in order that the issuing body can directly contact the customer with details of the fine and information on how they can pay or appeal.
"For each fine notification a £40.00 administration fee is charged to cover the company’s costs for handling unpaid fines. This is stated in the terms and conditions."
