Well not a very intresting week regarding queues at all German borders, their where none, BUT not a busy week on the roads anyway, the traffic will start next week when all Germans are back in work.
I only had one instance when a BAG van pulled in front of me “thought here we go” to find he zapped me with his infra red device that they have onboard stayed in front of me for approx 30 to 45 seconds then shot off never to be seen again.
I have had no problems with the maut machine so far, the proof will be when the invoice comes in.
Wonder if their IR zapper will change the channel on the TV? Most annoying if that happens while engrossed in a movie at 80 km/h. 
I’m kidding before anyone goes into one. 
I was at Venlo border Monday and no qs whatsoever. We’re on the pay as you go scheme and I found the whole thing pretty much painless. Lots of toll-collect bods around if i got stuck but it seemed pretty much straight forward. It’s going to be a pain stopping all the time to pay but heh, that’s life.
I’m going to have the same problem Kenny. I’ve got a Toll Collect card which, I imagine, has all my wagon details on it and an account. I expect that what I have to do is drive to the border (or a pre-border Toll Collect point, if there is such a thing), stick my card into the machine and tell it where I am and where I want to go. It then tells me the route to take and asks me if that is the way I want to go (I think I can tell it a different route if I need to). It then tells me how much. I pay and drive on.
I have had a play with the machines, whilst stopped at Autohofs. It seems pretty straight forward, so I don’t expect to have any problems using the machines.
The maut if you have got a OBU unit is okay, but if the
person who pays as he goes, How will you cope with the
problem of the road being closed when there has been a
serious accident and the traffic is being moved off the motorway.
At present no one has bothered to answer this question here in
GERMANY: Also at present there are still many firms on
holiday here in EUROPE. So the big test will come when
more transit traffic is on the roads in GERMANY. Also if
you have a pay as you go card it is your resonsibility to
ensure that enough credit is on the card at alll times or
TOLL COLLECT will turn off your OBU unit with out
telling you before hand and that means you will be
fined if this is done to your OBU and you are checked
by the BAG or the overhead cctv in the maut tower. takes
your picture . I have seen more traffic on the side roads
as some firms are trying to save money . In BAYERN they
are trying to get the maut put on some of the countryroads
we willl have to wait and see if they get it passed or not .
Pete, being based in Dortmund, can appreciate the problems of congestion in the Ruhrpott. If the A40 is blocked for whatever reason, there is always the opportunity to travel on one of the parallel Autobahns if you have the OBU. But without it you have to re-book your route, its total pants without the OBU. If I was working for a Spedition that said I had to stay off the Autobahns and to book all routes with a Maut card, I’d walk out the door because that firm has not got the funds to survive in my opinion.
Was talking to an ex-colleague from Sweden this week and he said another couple of drivers whom we know had problems on the Monday morning.
They had stopped at an Autohof for the weekend and when they went to leave they realised that the maut machine was inside the restaurant,which didn’t open until 6am although the tankstation on the same place is open 24/7.
So there was a queue of 30 odd drivers for one machine!