ANOTHER North-East driver is locked in dispute with the London Transport Authority after being fined for breaching the capital's congestion laws - even though he hasn't been there for months.

Firefighter Steve Bake, from Richmond, North Yorkshire, read about Brian and Beverley Masterman, from nearby Scotton, in The Northern Echo, a fortnight ago.

The couple were fined £40 for failing to pay the tolls - even though they were hundreds of miles away at the time.

They have vowed not to pay, while the Greater London Authority has confessed some drivers appear to be trying to dodge the fees by tampering with their registration plates to dupe the cameras used to monitor pay points.

Nevertheless, the impression that the London authorities have something against residents of the Richmond area was reinforced when a letter also dropped through Mr Bake's door at the end of last week, telling him he had also been fined £40 for an offence he insists he could not have committed.

He said: "At first I thought it was quite funny. I'm certain that, at the time on the ticket, I was mucking out some horses my wife keeps on a farm near Richmond and, anyway, I know I haven't been to London for a long time.

"If you ring the telephone number on the document, it's just a recorded message and, if you write, it all takes more time - but the document says, the longer you take to pay, the more you can be fined.''

However, a spokeswoman for the London Transport Authority said that if Mr Bake made a written representation, any action against him would be frozen until the matter was investigated.

She said: "Anyone tempted to tamper with their registration plate is taking an additional risk, because we can report it to the police as a separate offence."