Police to investigate if harbour tunnel overcharging was deliberate act
Police have been asked to investigate whether a Western Harbour Tunnel toll collection incident that resulted in thousands of motorists being overcharged was intentional, a top official has said.
Acting chief executive Eric Chan Kwok-ki told a press briefing yesterday that an inquiry had revealed the overcharging was caused by “human error”, with a tunnel employee using a previous system instead of the new one.
“We asked the tunnel operator to immediately investigate this so-called human error, and a preliminary investigation showed that someone had interfered with the computer system, resulting in erroneous charges,” he said. “We suspect someone tampered with the computer without reason, I believe this is not a technical error.”
Chan also said the government had asked police to follow up, saying the force would press charges and severely punish anyone found to have tampered with or deliberately damaged the system.
Police said the cybersecurity and technology crime bureau was investigating the case.
More than 4,700 motorists driving through the Western Harbour Tunnel between 10.02am and 11.04am on Monday were charged extra on what was the first working day of phase two of new time-adjusted tolls.
Chan said operations had resumed normally after the incident, with the tunnel operator refunding all overcharged drivers.
On a recent spate of technical errors at various government departments, including the system failure that briefly interrupted the district council poll on December 10, Chan said the latest incident was caused by human interference rather than a computer glitch.
The Transport Department introduced the toll adjustment scheme, under which private cars using the Cross-Harbour Tunnel, the Eastern Harbour Tunnel and the Western Harbour Tunnel pay varying charges depending on the time of day, in an attempt to ease traffic congestion.
Lawmaker Gary Zhang Xinyu told a radio show yesterday that driving from West Kowloon to Hong Kong Island via the Western crossing at 10.22am cost him HK$60 when he was supposed to pay HK$52.
“There should be a high-level authorisation and a set of agreed procedures every time a change in the charging scheme is involved,” he said. “Why was it possible to adjust the charging scheme without the Transport Department’s knowledge?
“It is necessary to find out whether there are loopholes in the process itself.”
Zhang said he had received a refund of HK$60 instead of the extra HK$8 he was charged, adding the system requested a new payment of HK$52. He expressed concerns that some drivers might be unaware of refunds and new payment requests, which might be treated as an overdue one.
Zhang said the incident might have affected people’s confidence in the system, urging the contractor to disclose its investigation and explain it to the public. He added a mechanism triggering warnings and penalties in case of unsatisfactory performance was supposed to be included in the contract with the service provider, saying the incident might reflect the government’s “insufficient” gatekeeping of the process.
Separately, the Transport Department said Aberdeen Tunnel would begin using the HKeToll system from 5am on Sunday. The tunnel, which sees an average of 57,456 daily trips, is the last but one in the city to switch to the system.
Tai Lam Tunnel will be the only one still using manual toll booths and Autotoll lanes.