Woman given fine after van pictured on back of truck in air zone

Eve Scragg, 38, received a letter from Bristol City Council accusing her of breaching the  restrictions in her bright yellow vehicle.

But when Eve was sent a photo to show the evidence - she was left laughing.

The picture revealed Eve's van had gone through the city centre at the Bath Road Bridge junction on 25 September - on the back of an AA recovery truck.

Eve appealed the £69 fine, but admits she still has not heard anything from the council.

Eve, who lives in Easton, Bristol, is the founder of local business Fan The Flames Marketing & Design.

She said: "When I opened the fine I was a little confused as I knew I hadn’t driven through the clean air zone.

''I’m always careful to pay the charge in advance if I do, but then laughed when I saw that the van was so clearly on the back of a recovery truck.

"It’s a bright yellow ex-AA van on the top of a huge yellow AA lorry, so you can’t exactly miss it!

"I appealed the fine as it’s clearly incorrect.

"The fact that I got the fine shows that they don’t have a human sense-check before sending out the PCNs, and their systems aren’t up to scratch."

Due to the limited time period in which people can appeal fines, Eve says she was thankful to have picked it up in time.

She added: "Hopefully I’ll hear from them with a cancellation soon, but if I hadn’t spotted the fine and appealed it in time I would have been left with a hefty fine.

"There’s only a limited period in which you can appeal, so if you’re away for example, it seems pretty unfair to be landed with the charge and threats if you don’t pay it.

"The garage I took the van into said apparently it happens all the time.

''Bristol City Council really need to fix the issue, or at least check the photos before sending out the fines."

A council spokesperson acknowledged the penalty charge notice had been sent out in error and had now been cancelled.