When Sandra Yarwood arrived home after a two-week holiday, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Her small black Volkswagen Golf was still sitting on the street outside, just as she had left it.
Then the traffic fines began landing on her doormat.
The Earl’s Court media consultant was stunned to receive 32 separate £90 penalty notices from seven different London local authorities. The letters accused her of driving in bus lanes, parking unlawfully and entering no-traffic zones across the capital.
But Ms Yarwood had been in Canada when the alleged offences took place. She soon discovered she had been caught up in a growing number plate cloning scam affecting motorists across Britain.
Each year, thousands of drivers learn that fake copies of their vehicle registration plates have been placed on other cars, allowing offenders to dodge traffic penalties or, in some cases, use the vehicles to commit crimes.
For Ms Yarwood, the cloned number plate had been attached to another black Golf in south London, similar enough to make the deception appear convincing.
But the ordeal escalated when she attempted to challenge the £2,800 in Penalty Charge Notices, known as PCNs.
She said: ‘I can’t count the hours I’ve spent fighting the tech and the bureaucracy. They make it as hard as possible to contest traffic fines.
Sandra Yarwood, returned from holiday in Canada to find more than 30 traffic and parking offences had been registered to her car
The media consultant from Earl’s Court in London, had received 32 separate £90 fines from seven different local authorities
Ms Yarwood pictured on the street in Kensington holding the traffic violation notices
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‘Most of the time you can’t speak to anyone at all. The default position is that you must have done it.’
Her plates were cloned in the middle of June but eight weeks on, Sandra says she still has two £90 fines hanging over her and, because she missed a deadline, was ordered by Lewisham Council to appear before legal tribunals set for February 2027.
She said: ‘I thought if I reported that my car had been cloned to the DVLA and the police, and quoted the incident reference number, that would be enough.
‘But no, I was deluged with follow-up letters demanding proof of where my car was at the time – how does anyone do that? – and photographs of my car from every angle.
‘I duly photographed my car from every angle and realised that I had an English Heritage sticker on the windscreen.
‘I scoured the footage I’d been sent with the PCNs and… the fraudster’s car does not have an English Heritage sticker – or the scratch down the side caused by the low bollard near my doctor’s surgery. And it doesn’t have a sunroof – which I’d forgotten about.’
Ms Yarwood spent hours uploading this information on to various websites – each PCN demanded a separate appeal – and Greenwich, Transport for London, Southwark, Central Parking Management (which runs parking in SE26) and Merton conceded her case.
She said: ‘But all this information can only be shared if the websites and portals work, and at Lewisham and Lambeth, they don’t.
‘I tried every day for a week to upload the photos, but each time was met with a blank screen. I tried one more time and bingo, Lewisham was up and running. But not Lambeth.
‘I had to deal with an unhelpful chatbot. When I finally did get through to someone, they told me, ‘The system is down’. Next, I sent pictures of my Golf by registered post to show it’s not the same car as the one in the PCN. It was only when I spoke to a human being that I got anywhere.
‘I’m in my sixties and know how to use a computer. If I were less tech savvy, then God help me.’
A spokesman for Lambeth told The Mail on Sunday that both outstanding PCNs have now been cancelled.
He said: ‘We’re very sorry that Ms Yarwood experienced difficulties contacting us. We will work with any motorist who believes a PCN has been issued unfairly, and we are happy to correct any errors as quickly as possible.
‘But in cases of alleged cloning, we are required to establish a high level of evidence, including clear photos of all four sides of the vehicle in question.
‘We are aware of a technical issue last month which meant motorists were briefly unable to submit a challenge on our website.’
A spokesman for Lewisham confirmed the PCNs had been cancelled and said: ‘We’re sorry Ms Yarwood found the process frustrating – especially considering the unfortunate situation.
‘We are working to improve how cloned registration cases are identified and reviewed.’
