TRAFFIC wardens in the London Borough of Islington have been plaguing a Glenridding man with parking tickets for his vintage tractor, reports Justin Hawkins.

John Allison, of High Rake, Glenridding, has racked up thousands of pounds' worth of parking fines in the London borough despite only visiting the capital once in his life.

Curiously, the vehicle which has attracted almost 30 parking tickets is a vintage tractor which has probably never been to London since it was made - more than half a century ago.

The 1952 Fordson Major tractor is, like the three other vintage vehicles in John's collection, stored out of harm's way at Glenridding - the 300-mile journey from there to Islington would take 20 hours at the tractor's top speed of around 15mph.

"I have only been to London once and that was on the train." said Mr Allison. "It's that comical. I'm surprised I haven't got a bill for the congestion charging!"

It seems that wardens in Islington have been busily ticketing a VW Golf bearing the same number plate as Mr Allison's tractor, FCK 272.

According to the council, the offending vehicle is either a foreign car which happens to have the same number, or it is a car displaying false number plates in a deliberate attempt by the owner to avoid parking fines. The only way Mr Allison can put an end to the saga is to prove to the DVLA, which provides the council with the address of the owner ticketed vehicle, that he is not the registered keeper of the offending Golf.

A council spokesman told the Gazette: "The onus is on him to prove that he is not the registered owner of the VW car. The sooner he can do that the sooner we can get it sorted out."

But Mr Allison, who suffered a similar problem with the same number plate being booked in Barnet, North London, a few years ago, said nowadays it should not be beyond the wit of man to stop issuing tickets to the wrong vehicle or to find the real offender.

Although only a handful of the 30 or so tickets issued against him have ended up on his doormat, Mr Allison said the saga had been "frustrating" as well as "comical".

"No-one has ever said sorry to me, they have just said 25 tickets have been cancelled. I want a full written apology from the parking boss," he said.

Islington Borough councillor and executive member for sustainability Bridget Fox said: "We have cancelled all tickets sent to Mr Allison who is clearly not the owner of the vehicle collecting fines in Islington.

"This problem occasionally arises whenever there is a duplicate number plate. We have alerted parking attendants to this problem and they will be on the lookout for the duplicate registered vehicle."

May 16, 2003 09:30