LONDON - Criminals are "cloning" the number plates of cars and putting them on their own vehicles to avoid the London congestion charge, its administrators said yesterday.
Dozens of people who have never driven in London are understood to have had fines for up to £80 ($224) from Transport for London
(TfL).
Peggy Metcalf, 80, of Norwich, received a notice saying her Nissan Sunny was photographed inside the zone at 8.19am on February 17, the first day of the charge. Metcalf said she would have to get up at 5am to reach London by that time. She is appealing the fine.
"Cloning" happens when criminals spot a car matching the make, model and colour of their own and note the number plate, which they copy and fit on their own car.
The Independent discovered yesterday that it is easy to copy the number plate of an existing car. It took two phone calls to find a garage prepared to make a set of number plates for £10 without proof that they were for the car's legal owner.
From Saturday, all garages are required by law to see a vehicle's ownership papers before making new plates, but until then the potential for cloning is unlimited.
TfL said it was building up a database of "rogue numbers" which will trigger a system alert as soon as a car with that number plate enters the zone.
- INDEPENDENT
