They should pay

Alison Chedgzoy has had nothing but heartache after receiving a total of nine fines - even though she hasn't been to the capital for 15 years.

Her ordeal started when she was fined for being at Whitechapel High Street shortly before 11.30am on Wednesday February 19. She was at work at the Royal Worcestershire Hospital at the time.

The 52-year-old's Peugeot 306 was also "spotted" at Minories and Hampton Street in London, during a six-week period.

She received an apology from Ken Livingstone confirming the mistakes at the end of March.

But for Mrs Chedgzoy and her husband, Roger, who live in Linton, this isn't enough.

"At first I thought it was funny, then I got angry and then just plain stressed out," she said.

"I sent dozens of e-mail letters and solicitor's letters explaining the situation, but still nothing was done.

"I am now looking for compensation - even if it only the solicitor fees - for what has been an awful few months.

"The ironic thing is I don't like driving very far and my husband always jokes that I would need Dick Whittington's cat to find my way to London, my geography is that poor."

Confusion over congestion charges is not uncommon.

The company responsible for issuing the notices, Traffic for London (TfL) refused to comment on any individual cases, and wouldn't discuss compensation.

But they did offer an explanation as to the possible causes for the errors.

"If mistakes are made it is usually because someone is keying the wrong registration number into the computer," a spokesperson for TfL said.

"This means that the wrong name comes up and someone else gets the fine.

"In some circumstances it could be that someone is using ghost number plates on their cars.

"Criminals don't do this to avoid congestion charges, but very often they don't pay the £5 charge and the owner of the real car is penalised.

"We realise that it is inconvenient to people to wrongly receive a fine, and we do try to apologise for our errors."