I was slapped with £2,000 worth of fines in London – here’s how I KNOW they are wrong
A PRIMARY school teacher has been slapped with almost £2,000 worth of London traffic fines – but knows for a fact they’re wrong.
Chris Guest’s Alfa Romeo number plates were replicated by a scam artist and attached to an identical car before brazen crooks racked up 11 penalties by failing to pay the £15 congestion charge fee.
The brazen motorists also picked up a stream of charges for going up one-way streets and driving in restricted zones in Lambeth, South London.
But by switching the car’s plates, TfL letters demanding payment of the £180 fines were sent to Chris, 63 – who lives 115 miles away in Bath.
The well-known con left the furious teacher facing a £1,980 bill which he is fighting to overturn.
Irritated Chris told The Sun: “Every day the postman is arriving with a new one.
“I am having to appeal each one and it has become very time-consuming.
“I haven’t been to London in well over a year and have never driven around Lambeth.
“The person driving around in London is committing traffic infringements all the time.
“Surely it would be fairly easy to pick that person up from the camera locations.”
Christopher added that local cops told him the fines could “go on forever”.
Figures obtained under a Freedom of Information request last year revealed the number of penalties overturned due to cloning shot up by 857% between 2021 and 2022.
Assuming another driver’s number plates is a criminal offence – with those found guilty facing fines of up to £1,000.
But drivers who fall victim to the scam must prove to authorities they were not driving the car at the time the fine was issued.
It comes after protestors took to streets on Saturday (15/4) to hit back at the planned expansion of Sadiq Khan’s Ultra Low Emission Zone.
The eco-area expansion would see anyone behind the wheel of polluting cars forced to stump up £12.50 a day in all 32 London boroughs.
Five Tory-led councils – Bromley, Harrow, Bexley, Hillington and Surrey – are set to challenge the policy by launching a judicial review.
A Met Police spokesperson told The Sun Chris’ plates would be registered as cloned and future hits reviewed.
The force advises anyone who believes their plates have been cloned to report it online.
TfL said they have cancelled five of Chris’s eleven fines.