Bailiffs came to take a Chessington woman’s car away for not paying fines she said she did not know anything about until she had accumulated hundreds of pounds in late fees.

Hayley Dixon, of Rutland Close, drove in a bus lane twice while moving house in November 2016.

Because she moved, the first she knew about the fines was on July 13 this year when she received a letter from debt collectors, telling her she owed hundreds of pounds.

The notices were sent to her previous address and not sent to her new one, despite her having changed her details online.

She appealed, but was the appeal was rejected because the council said it was now out of its hands.

Despite several visits from bailiffs, Miss Dixon was determined to hold out and only pay the original fines – not the late fees she said she could not have avoided.

She said: “Bailiffs came at 7.15am. I was upstairs getting ready to go to work. My parents let him in. I was determined that I wasn’t going to talk to him.

“He said you can either pay today or we’ll clamp the car, and my parents had to pay it; I need the car and we didn’t know what else to do. We paid £1,026 in the end, which was pretty painful.

“I couldn’t have people coming to my house at 7am.”

Kingston Council said it considers the case closed.

Councillor Phil Doyle, cabinet member with responsibility for Environment, said: "All notices are sent to the address of the registered car owner using the DVLA database. At the time of issuing the fines, we used the records available to us.

"We understand that Miss Dixon had moved house and therefore didn't receive the original fines. On these grounds, she took her cases to Northampton County Court but the ruling was found in the council's favour. Miss Dixon was advised to take the cases to a local court if she felt it was an unfair decision, which did not happen. The payments have now been made in full."

But Miss Dixon said she wants to be given the money back, so she can pay the original fines.