BOSTON -- Thousands of motorists were stuck in backups over Easter weekend on the Massachusetts Turnpike because the agency said it decided not to pay overtime to replace toll takers who had called in sick.

Motorists who e-mailed TheBostonChannel.com said that some toll plazas had only a single toll taker at the cash lanes, causing backups of five miles or more.

"It is beyond my comprehension that on a hugely traveled holiday there was one toll taker at the 128 toll," wrote Lynne Burke.

"I spent five hours in my car Sunday driving from East Boston to Franklin and back," e-mailed Cindy Simeone.

Turnpike Executive Director Alan LeBovidge defended his agency.

"I don't have money," he said. "Every dollar counts at this point in time. I am doing everything I can to save money and conserve cash."

A gridlock-nightmare was compounded by a new policy prohibiting overtime to cover for any toll collector calling in sick.

"All I know that, in the private sector, if you pull a stunt like this, you wouldn't have a job the next day, and I am surprised that the AG's office or the governor's office is in not looking a little harder into this," said Ron Nelson, a stranded driver.

The turnpike is billions of dollars in debt because of cost overruns on the Big Dig construction project. The agency has threatened to raise tolls unless the legislature passes a statewide gas tax.

Delays on Easter weekend are not unusual, but the combination of fewer toll takers and heavy traffic created longer than usual lines.

"We feel that someone in the turnpike authority should have had the common sense to realize that with Easter traffic, there would have been a lot of people on the road and therefore more booths should have been open," said Jenny Conley, who said she encountered a one-hour delay.

Cindy Simeone said she spent five hours in her car driving from East Boston to Franklin and back. She counted only one toll collector at the Weston tolls.

"It's Sunday. That's their job. It's ridiculous. It's Easter. You know the crowd is going to be there," she said.

Ironically, LeBovidge seemed to blame drivers for a lot of the backups: "You know, how they cut into lines so the people trying to go down the Fast Lane are blocked by the people pretending to have a Fast Lane."

LeBovidge said he did not know how many toll takers had called in sick, but he said there'd be no change in the policy on future holidays.

"Sometimes you have to grin and bear it," he said.

Gov. Deval Patrick said the backups merely reflect the state's dire financial situation. "There are real consequences and hardship" to the state and turnpike budget deficits, he said.

On Monday, a full compliment of toll takers returned to work. MassPike officials did not specify how many called in sick over the Easter weekend.