Former police prosecutor Justin Shaw quit his role, in part, because of the sheer number of CityLink cases. Credit:Simon Schluter Mr Shaw said he believed many of his former colleagues and others in the court system also felt like debt collectors for toll road company Transurban, which operates CityLink. He began working as a police prosecutor in 2005 after about six years as a police officer. Mr Shaw said one of his frustrations was Transurban's resistance to "bundling up" charges. Bundling up charges is when repeated low-level offences are rolled up into a single charge, which can reduce strain on individuals and the court.

But Mr Shaw said he did all he could within the law to ease the burden on people struggling with their fines. The enforcement of toll road fines is placing a mounting burden on the Magistrates Court and now accounts for the greatest number of all charges. In the 2014/15 financial year there were almost 36,700 charges for driving a vehicle unregistered in a toll zone, rising 27 per cent on the previous year. Unpaid toll fines can quickly spiral out of control for some motorists because the infringements imposed far exceed the initial cost of travelling on the toll roads. Transurban customer operations general manager Kristine Cooney said the company did everything it could to help people with unpaid tolls, including offering first-time forgiveness and hardship programs.

"Through our hardship programs we may be able to help people with their payment difficulties and alleviate the worry of an unpaid debt getting bigger," she said. Ms Cooney said the company was also happy to work with the government on initiatives to prevent unpaid tolls reaching infringements. Mother of three, Melissa*, racked up more than $80,000 in fines when her abusive husband used the CityLink account in her name and she also needed to use the road for her former courier business. Melissa feared going to the letterbox and finding dozens of fine notices as she struggled to pay for food and rent. "My life fell apart," she said. "I can't even explain the stress it put on me and my kids."

Melissa estimates she had to appear in court up to 10 times with the total she was required to pay eventually slashed to less than $2000. Victoria Legal Aid acting strategic advocacy manager Damian Stock said it was a "wildly unfair" system in which a $5 trip can become a $350 fine. "It only takes a few of these and our clients will never be able to pay the debt even when they want to pay for the road use," he said. Cases such as Melissa's troubled Mr Shaw who took some time out on WorkCover due to stress before he left the police force last year. He now runs a bar in Elwood. He said Transurban should not be using the courts to impose fines for travelling on its roads.

Mr Shaw argues the law should be changed to make Transurban adopt a civil debt collection model, much like that used by telecommunications and utilities companies. "But that would require them to do their own pursuing and their own debt collection." Loading The Andrews government has made major changes to Victoria's infringement system and will allow people to undertake community service or other activities if they cannot repay their fines. *Not her real name.