Clone conman has done a number on me

A DRIVER whose car number plates were cloned has spoken of her nightmare saying she doesn't know when another fine will be posted through her door.

- BY PAIGE OLDFIELD

Leanne Sheehy, from Swinton, Salford, first realised something was wrong when she received a £100 parking penalty from Euro Car Parks last month initially The 33-year-old assumed she had made a mistake.

However, she soon realised she had never even been to the location in question, which was a pub car park in Cheshire.

Leanne, a fitness instructor, realised she must have fallen victim to car cloning, a type of vehicle identity theft. The crime sees crooks steal or copy another car's registration plates, often choosing plates from a vehicle that looks similar to theirs.

The scam allows dishonest drivers to accumulate fines while the real and innocent owner of the vehicle has to pay the price.

"I got a letter through the post at the end of January saying I had a £100 parking fine from Euro Car Parks for a pub in Cheshire," Leanne told the M.E.N. as she recalled her first fine.

"Initially, I panicked, wondering what I had done and where I had parked. I thought, 'Lesson learned.