Someone cloned my car number plate back in October and racked up £8,500 in Ulez fines. I appealed, but this was rejected.

Unfortunately, the cloned car is the same make, model and colour as mine. I’ve now received 17 “order for recovery of unpaid penalty charge” notices from Transport for London (TfL). The bailiffs will arrive next week, according to their letters.

I’ve never driven my car in London, and can’t afford these fines.

RJ, Maidenhead

Car number plate cloning rose by 9% last year, according to the DVLA.

Criminals steal, or copy, registration plates to fix to vehicles that look similar. This allows them to evade parking and speeding penalties, as well as clean air zone fines.

The cloning of your car coincided with a serious bike accident that required surgeries and meant you were unable to appeal against all the fines in time. TfL cancelled the penalties as soon as I provided evidence that you did not own the offending vehicle.

It says: “We would encourage all drivers who believe they have received penalty charge notices (PCNs), as a result of their vehicle being cloned, to get in touch with us as soon as possible, with all the available evidence, to prevent charges escalating.”

Acceptable evidence includes photos, or witness affidavits, proving your car was somewhere else at the time the fine was triggered, evidence of discrepancies between the legitimate and the cloned vehicles, and a police crime reference.

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