Turnpike toll takers stripped of their guns

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

A driver stopped to pay as snow began to fall last Friday at the Weston tolls.

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff

A long-time Massachusetts Turnpike Authority policy allowing toll takers to carry .38-caliber Smith & Wesson pistols has been scrapped, a Turnpike spokesman said.

Turnpike executive director Alan LeBovidge ordered the guns confiscated in December after learning that the toll takers did not receive firearms training and that the guns were not routinely maintained, said Mac Daniel, the authority spokesman.

Toll takers have been allowed to carry guns for at least three decades as protection against robbery of toll money, Daniel said.

Daniel said toll takers had carried the guns when they couriered cash between highway interchanges. A new policy is being drafted, he said early this morning.

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