LHD cars and tollbooths?

[ChemicalChaos]

I was pondering earlier - in the uk, what does one do in an LHD car when it comes to motorway tool booths and multistorey carpark barriers? I can understand that, for a mcdonalds drivethru or similar, you can turn around and reverse in. However, that doesnt really seem like an option on the M6 toll, for example. How do people manage? Do you have your credit card on a big pair of lazy tongs?!

[Troubleatmill]

Stop the car before you pull up to the machine/ operator.
Get out of car.
Pay
Apologetic wave to car behind. ( They always smile )
Get back in car
Drive on.


No different to going into multi storey car parks.

[Andyjc86]

Employ a 'passanger seat occupier', they'll do it all for you.

[iva cosworth]

When Dartford was still using manned booths,I just leaned across the car as a Barchetta is small

enough to reach the other side.

I didn't risk trying to throw coins into the basket things they had there.

Sitting on the correct side for Euro trips.

[Nickyboy]

I followed a LHD car into a works car park once at the barrier he picked up a stick with his ID card on the end and pushed it out the passenger window

[ging84]

i have yet to see anyone reverse a muscle car through a McDonald drive through
and i have spend an unhealthy amount of time at them, maybe one day i will get to witness this

[caelite]

Mate of mine reversed through a mcdonalds drive through in his F150... Was an extremely amusing spectacle.

[Buzz84]

Nickyboy said:

I followed a LHD car into a works car park once at the barrier he picked up a stick with his ID card on the end and pushed it out the passenger window

Thats a brilliant idea.

I was once in my works security booth and a left hand drive car pulled up (pass reader on the right for cars) the occupant lowered the drivers window stuck their arm out with their pass so the security guard could see and repeatedly honked the horn...

Security guard ignored them for a few minutes while the driver got increasingly worked up and then eventually let them in.

[ILoveMondeo]

Do people REALLY reverse LHD cars through a drive through?

The get out and walk around the car method seems a lot more plausible.

Driving any distance away from Calais the RHD lane at the tolls quickly vanish so it's either the passengers job or you get out. Or use one with a coin basket and make sure you've got a good aim.

[Gixer]

Only issue I ever had was at the M6 toll. Got out and paid, ran back to the car and got in only to watch the barrier come back down.....

A lot of people that use them as a daily use a litter picker

[kambites]

When I've been driving a car with the steering wheel on the wrong side, I've used the "get out and walk 'round" approach.

[markmullen]

My 928 was left hand drive and yes, I reversed through drive throughs. Most of the time the staff never noticed, I did kill the headlights so the person following me wasn't blinded. Other than that for car parks I kept a child's grabber toy behind the seats, one with a claw at one end and a handle at the other, easy enough for taking car park tickets. For toll booths I'd slip my seatbelt off and just lean across.

[balls-out]

I'm on my fourth LHD. 3 of which were daily drivers.
Always just reached across.
Never got out.
Never reversed through a drive through- although I have never used a drive through and regard my life as mildly the richer as a result

[Barchettaman]

I have it the other way round - both our cars are RHD in Germany.

Carparks are a pain. Most of the time it's a lean over the passenger seat.

French autoroutes - I keep an old BBQ spatula with a clothes peg on the end. At the toll the whole thing gets handed over to Madmoiselle in her booth, and comes back with the receipt & credit card clipped together, and a nice same from said Madmoiselle.

Before the questions come in about why we have RHD in Chermany, let's just say it was for compelling financial reasons!

[Swanny87]

When doing the motorway tolls, do a Ken Block style 180 spin backwards up to barrier, then pull a J-Turn coming out of the barriers. God, I thought it would be blatantly obvious?

[AlexS]

Buzz84 said:

Nickyboy said:

I followed a LHD car into a works car park once at the barrier he picked up a stick with his ID card on the end and pushed it out the passenger window

Thats a brilliant idea.

I was once in my works security booth and a left hand drive car pulled up (pass reader on the right for cars) the occupant lowered the drivers window stuck their arm out with their pass so the security guard could see and repeatedly honked the horn...

Security guard ignored them for a few minutes while the driver got increasingly worked up and then eventually let them in.

Coming back from Le Mans a couple of years ago a Caterfield pulled up in the booth next to mine, with only a driver on board and fully strapped in. He picked up a small fishing net and passed the ticket over, then put the cash in this and got the change back.

[GC8]

Obvious, surely?

[GC8]

To those for whom it is not obvious, change can be passed in either direction in a small pot, but I'm not going to be able to find a picture of that on t'internet.

[gtidriver]

A few years ago I came back from Paris, it was pissing hard and I didn't fancy getting wet. So I stopped the car just before the toll and reversed through the toll. Well there was lots of shouting in French from the lady at the tolls and arms being being flung in the air and more shouting.She wasn't happy.. I paid the toll, and I didn't get wet. Don't know what all the fuss was about really.

[feef]

I was driving round France last summer with my 4 yr old. I got a SANEF toll tag thingy to automate the autoroutes and that worked a treat. However, we were getting the ferry from Santander and I didn't realise that Spain had toll-roads too so when we got to the toll booth, I just handed my creditcard to my son and said "say hola and give the lady this" He did the job admirably, and the incredibly cute toll-booth girl had the biggest grin on her face after the initial shock of seeing a 4yr old "driving" the car