Marcos Losekann was considering paying the fine for peace of mind. But then another penalty notice arrived. And another. In all, he was ordered to pay £2,000 in speeding, parking and congestion charge penalties in six weeks.

Mr Losekann, 37, had become one of a growing number of drivers falling victim to criminals who “clone” the car plates of innocent drivers to avoid penalties. When the authorities refused to believe his innocence, he proved them wrong by tracking down the car of the real culprit.

He plotted the location of each offence on a map and was eventually able to make an educated guess that the culprit lived in Islington near the border with Hackney in northeast London. It led to the bizarre scene of police finding that the cloned car’s numberplates simply peeled off, and Mr Losekann puncturing all the car’s tyres to stop it being driven away.

“It was a nightmare being accused of so many offences and being treated with suspicion and disbelief by the authorities when I tried to demonstrate that I was innocent,” said Mr Losekann, the London correspondent for Brazil’s biggest television station.

Criminals visit car showrooms and car parks to copy the numberplates of cars of the same model and colour as their own or one they have stolen. The car cannot then be detected by police or camera operators when they run computer checks to ensure that the model and colour correspond with DVLA records. The trick has proliferated with the number of traffic cameras monitoring speed, bus lanes, parking and the London congestion charge.

In Mr Losekann’s case, the culprit had an almost-identical £15,000 Chrysler PT Cruiser with the same metallic blue paint. Mr Losekann received the first £80 fine for driving in a bus lane on the Holloway Road on February 25.

“I couldn’t remember being on that road but I thought I would pay up just to get rid of it,” he said. “But three days later, I received a congestion charge fine claiming I had been in King’s Cross when I had been nowhere near there that day. Three days after that, a second £80 penalty arrived for the same location.”

Mr Losekann wrote to Transport for London (TfL) asking for copies of the photographs. When he received them he could see that the offending car had small but significant differences from his own. His numberplate had a “GB” symbol and his bumper was metallic blue, not black.

He sent TfL pictures of his car but an official at Capita, the company handling enforcement, said that Mr Losekann could have switched his own plates. The official replied: “We have photographic evidence depicting your vehicle clearly showing your registration. Therefore your representation cannot be accepted.”

The letter ended by saying the fine would go up to £120 if not paid within 28 days, and after that a county court summons would be issued. Mr Losekann decided to give his car back to his dealer to keep locked up to prove that he could not have been driving if any further penalties arrived.

Over the next month, penalties kept landing on his doormat. He had two congestion charge fines, three speeding fines, four bus lane penalties and 16 parking tickets. He noticed that several parking tickets had been issued in Liverpool Road, Islington, on consecutive mornings. He staked out the road but saw no sign of the rogue driver.

The crucial clue came when he received a ticket issued in Wolsey Road near Newington Green. Unlike the others, this ticket stated that the driver had parked “more than 50cm from the kerb and not within a designated parking place”. Mr Losekann suspected that the culprit might live locally because this was not a brazen violation but careless parking.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Tower block death blaze ‘suspicious’
• Licence payers fund BBC chief's £8m pension
• Potter star falls victim to swine flu