The toll company Linkt has gone offline until October 26, with the planned shutdown meaning its customers can’t access their accounts or instantly pay for journeys on some of Australia’s busiest and most vital roads. 

Linkt serves a large portion of the massive customer base for the giant Transurban Group, meaning it manages tolls for major traffic arteries like Sydney’s Cross City Tunnel, M2, Eastern Distributor, Westlink M7 and North Connex.

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In Melbourne, it collects for the CityLink, EastLink and West Gate Tunnel, and its Queensland roads include the Logan Motorway, Gateway Motorway, Legacy Way and AirportlinkM7.

All of Linkt’s online services have been shut down until 7am next Monday for the planned system upgrade, with the company reassuring customers with an announcement on its website that confirms what the impact will be on payments, account management and more. 

“We’ve put steps in place to minimise inconvenience, including giving you more time to pay and crediting back any fees incurred during this planned outage,” reads the message, which advises that no extra fees will be charged during the outage. 

Customers will not be able to log into their accounts, buy passes, make payments or manage their vehicles during the maintenance period. New sign-ups have also been temporarily paused.

Number plates and tags will still be recorded for every trip, but charges will be applied once operations resume. Customers who get a payment demand have been given an extra seven days to pay, with no fines or debt collections enforced during the time the system is offline. Accounts with invoices that fall due when the outage is still in force will not be charged any late fees.