Vintage car's congestion fine

Vintage car's congestion fine

The car has been in the museum since 1978

A 105-year-old car has fallen foul of London's congestion charge.

The vintage vehicle has been a regular exhibit at Bristol Industrial Museum for 25 years.

But despite the fact it has not been driven on the roads since 1947, the Daimler - nicknamed 'Fiery Liz' - has received a penalty notice for avoiding the £5 fee.

The museum exhibit, which has the number plate Y99 and a top speed of 15 mph, was apparently spotted in London at 0815 GMT on 17 February.

A penalty notice sent to the museum claims the vehicle was seen at Elephant and Castle/London Road, and that a number of pictures were taken as evidence.

Computer glitch

Assistant curator Sarah Riddle said: "We are pretty confident that the car has not been in London, considering it has not moved since it came to us.

"It does not tend to get around much these days.

"We were certainly surprised to receive the notice but we still have to officially appeal and send images of our vehicle."

A spokesman for Transport for London, which operates the congestion charge, said: "The scheme is dealing with hundreds of thousands of people every day and there are always going to be some individual errors.

"It appears this may have been a computer glitch and seems to be one of the early teething problems that you have to expect."

Controversial scheme

Motorists who fail to pay the £5 daily charge are fined £80 under the controversial scheme. The fine is cut to £40 if they pay within 17 days.

Cameras have been set up at 200 junctions inside the central London congestion charging zone to spot motorists who fail to pay.

They take photographs of the number plates of cars, which are then checked against a list of vehicles whose drivers have paid the charge.

The DVLA provides the details of those who have tried to evade the fee.

But it is thought poor light, adverse weather and dirt on number plates could cause problems for the system.