Motorist fined after CCTV confuses his number plate with woman’s T-shirt
David Knight was baffled when he received a fine for driving in a bus lane in Bath – about 120 miles away from his home.
But the builder and his wife, Paula, who live in Dorking, Surrey, laughed when they examined the photographic evidence of their alleged infraction and saw a woman with the word “Knitter” on her T-shirt, which the computer had mixed up with Knight’s registration plate, KN19TER, the Daily Mail reported.
The private registration on his Volkswagen van is a nod to his nickname, Knighter.
The penalty charge notice, issued by Bath and North East Somerset council, includes a CCTV photo of Pulteney Bridge in Bath, where the alleged contravention took place.
A second photo shows an image of a woman wearing a protective mask, handbag over her shoulder and T-shirt declaring “Knitter”.
Paula Knight, a bookkeeper, told the
Daily Mail she contacted the council to alert officials to their mistake and they agreed to cancel the £90 fine.
The alleged offence took place in June but Knight, 54, did not receive the penalty notice until last month.
Paula Knight, also 54, a mother of two, said the council call handler “burst out laughing” when she alerted her to the error.
“The fine had already gone up from £60 to £90 because we hadn’t paid within 30 days,” she told the Daily Mail. “Obviously no one had looked at the picture and it had been computer-generated.”
She added: “We’ve been laughing about it a lot. There was no way I was going to pay for a woman walking in a bus lane with a funny T-shirt on.”