Trucker Nabbed Trying to Avoid Tolls in New York Area

A Virginia truck driver who used a device to hide his license plate as he passed through tolls in the New York metropolitan area was arrested, the Associated Press reported.

The driver, trying to evade a $65 toll on the George Washington Bridge from New Jersey into New York City, had rigged a system to retract his license plate as he passed through E-ZPass lanes, police said.

The arrest of the driver and his use of the contraption — which was compared to a James Bond-like device — was first reported by the New York Post.

The driver, who was spotted by a Port Authority officer, was arrested on charges of using a cable in his truck cab to flip up his front plate while going through a gateless toll lane on Interstate 95 without a toll transponder. He had also bent up his rear plate so it could not be read by cameras, AP reported, citing police.

Truckers have complained about steep toll increases that the New York / New Jersey Port Authority set in August. By 2016, a five-axle truck will have to pay $105 to cross the G.W. Bridge.

Automobile and truck drivers who move pass the gateless E-ZPass lanes obscuring their license plates so the Port Authority cannot track them down and bill them cost the Port Authority $14 million in 2009 and 2010, AP said.