A veteran motorist may be forced to change his number plate after "car cloners" landed him with hundreds of pounds-worth of fixed penalty tickets.

Eric Haton, 84, who suffers with acute arthritis, has received seven fixed penalty notices from London councils - despite the fact his car has never left Bradford.

The great grandfather bought the two-year-old silver Hyundai Amica SI for £5,000 in March.

He uses the motor for local shopping trips.

A month later he received his first fixed penalty notice of £40 for illegal parking from the Parking Services department at Islington Council in London.

Mr Haton, of Bradford, said: "I knew there had been a mistake because I have never taken my car to London.

"I contacted Islington Council and explained that, but they said that I had to prove that the car involved was not mine."

Within weeks Mr Haton received a further fixed penalty from Islington.

"I sent them all the documentation, including photographs of my car, they required and both penalties were cancelled," he said.

But that was not the end of his problems.

He received two more fixed penalty tickets from Haringey Council and three from the Congestion Charging department at the Mayor of London's offices.

Mr Haton said he has been forced to spend hours of his time and money on phone calls and correspondence for something that is not his fault.

He said: "This is causing me sleepless nights and I am scared that I will continue to receive these demands for payment.

"I could have to change my number plate at a cost of £110. I am a pensioner and I should not have to be dealing with this."

The vehicle involved is the same make and colour as Mr Haton's and it carries the same number plate.

He said: "The only way you can tell it is not my car is from the back view. If you look at the lights they are different".

A spokesman from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency said: "Where motoring offences are committed by a person in a cloned vehicle, it would be up to the registered keeper to provide reasonable documentary evidence to the prosecuting authorities that they had not committed the offence."

Car cloning involves criminals taking the type, colour and registration of cars at auction, then stealing similar models and fixing them with false number plates.

A spokesman from the Metropolitan Police Service said: "The MPS is aware of the growing problem and is looking at ways to pull information together from various agencies, such as the police, DVLA, insurance industry and local councils, to progress a way forward.

"Drivers who suspect they have been a victim of car cloning should report the matter to police who will place details on the Police National Computer."