Despite threatening in February to cancel its contract with Toll Collect to build and operate a telematics-based lorry road-use charging scheme from 1 May, the German government has now been persuaded to agree to a revised timetable, which will delay the full implementation of the scheme until 1 January 2006 - three years later than originally envisaged.

On-board toll-collection units already installed in 120,000 German trucks have been deactivated, and will eventually be replaced with new ones by Toll Collect at its own expense. Testing of the system functions is now scheduled to start in May, with a two-month trial period planned for autumn.

The ambitious scheme was originally supposed to start in January 2003. It involves collecting tolls electronically by tracking vehicles on the Germany motorway network, then invoicing operators for distances travelled.

A postponement until August 2003 proved insufficient to resolve emerging technical problems, by which time the EU was investigating whether the Toll Collect consortium breached EU competition laws. Truck maker DaimlerChrysler and telecommunications company Deutsche Telecom each have a 45 per cent stake in the company, while French motorway operator Cofiroute holds the remaining 10 per cent.

Toll Collect has now had to hand over technical development of the on-board units, or "OBUs", to Siemens. Originally the units were supplied by DaimlerChrysler, but the EU agreed with rival truck manufacturers that this would distort the market for on-board telematics units.

The first phase will start on 1 January 2005 and use the existing version 1.0 of the OBU software. Version 2.0 will be implemented on 1 January 2006. Deutsche Telekom becomes responsible for operational management and its subsidiary T-systems for the hardware and software.

Although Toll Collect appears to have salvaged its contract, it is paying a hefty price. The German transport ministry has been recouping some of its lost tax revenue through penalties. Toll Collect has been paying 250,000 euros a day since 1 December 2003, and 500,000 euros a day since 1 March. DaimlerChrysler, for example, admits in its financial report for 2003 that it has already written off 241 million euros on the scheme and that its liabilities will be even higher in 2004.