The conversion of many roads in Portugal to toll roads, particularly the A-23 connecting with Andalucia, continues to cause controversy on both sides of the border and there have so far been three acts of sabotage reported since the system began on December 8th.
The latest incident occurred on Friday night when a group of individuals set fire to a communications box, burning the fibre optic cables collecting data from the electronic gates.
The barriers continued to work transmitting license plate details and other information as they have their own memory system to store the data.
Last Monday, one of the cameras was destroyed and a communications box burned in the first act of sabotage and on Tuesday an employee was slightly injured after shots were fired from a vehicle approaching the toll point.
The toll cost for cars is between 11 and 19 euros each way on the A-23 and the locals are not very happy about this. In addition, the system is difficult for tourists as you cannot pay cash or use a credit card for the tolls, you need to buy a prepaid card or rent an electronic device beforehand.