PENSIONER Maurice Stribling is planning to appeal against a London congestion charge ticket because he has not driven in the capital for more than 14 years.

Mr Stribling, 73, and his wife Josie were bowled over when a £40 penalty notice dropped through their letterbox on Tuesday morning.

The notice states their Y-reg Renault Clio was snapped passing through London's Grafton Way checkpoint off Tottenham Court Road at 10.40am on Thursday.

Instead the couple say they were 116 miles away at home in Furlong Gardens, Trowbridge, waiting for a Hoover repair man to fix their washing machine. The notice threatens an increased fine of £120 or County Court action if the fee is not paid within a month.

Mr Stribling said the charge notice must be a mistake.

"I was either at home or out at Tesco, I certainly wasn't in London," he said.

"My wife thought it was somebody having a joke so she told me to bin it but I thought we had better look into it a bit further.

"It is either a situation where somebody has cloned my number plate or something else.

"It would be laughable if it wasn't for all the hassle. It is a flawed system.

"I haven't been to London for 14 years. The furthest we have been in the car is Weston-Super-Mare."

A spokesman for Transport for London said the £5-a-day congestion charge project was experiencing a number of teething problems.

He said the mistake could be down to human error or a misreading of the car number plate.

When a car drives into London's congestion charge zone, two cameras are triggered. An automated number plate recognition system homes in on the plate while a second colour camera picks up the make, colour and style of the car.

Both pictures should be linked with details gained from the DVLA in Swansea.

If the charge is not paid by post, text message, telephone or at designated pay points before midnight on the day, motorists are sent a penalty notice.

The spokesman said the chances of the error being caused by a cloned or copied number plate were "slim".

Since February 17 the project has cut city centre traffic by 15 per cent and London mayor Ken Livingstone hopes it will raise up to £130m a year to be put towards the capital's transport system.

Mr Stribling is joined by pop icon Madonna in criticising the congestion charge system.

London resident Madonna claimed she was unable to get a £1,000 discount for her Mini Cooper because she was unwilling to release her home phone number.

The TfL spokesman said anyone receiving a charge by mistake should not ignore it.