Tradesman Graham Ellis had already been fined three times after forgetting to pay the congestion charge.

So he thought it prudent to request a receipt when he paid the toll over the internet before setting off to work in central London in his Toyota van.

But he was dumbfounded when the postman turned up with three plastic crates containing 3,000 identical receipts, each in its own addressed and franked envelope, confirming he had paid the £8 charge for Monday 10 March.

Mr Ellis, 37, a professional blind-fitter, from Swanley, Kent, said: "I was flabbergasted. But my children love opening them. They think it's Christmas - and they've got enough drawing paper to last them a lifetime."

A fortnight before, he had received 27 receipts for a single payment and then a few days later 500 for another one.

He called Transport for London to point out the error and ensure it didn't happen again and was told it had been caused by a computer glitch. Then came his latest delivery, which he estimates must have cost nearly £900 in postage.

Mr Ellis said: "I'm always worried about not paying the charge ... even when I have paid I suddenly think I haven't, but this is beyond a joke."

TfL said it had asked its contractor, Capita, to investigate.

• 

  Sex, lies and the Stasi

  On this day in 1989 the Berlin Wall was finally breached, ending the reign of East Germany’s feared security service. Here Anne McElvoy, who spent much of the Eighties in the city, recalls her encounters with the spooks

  ---

• 

  The geeky-girl solo artists descending on the music scene

  Kookiness is what sells music these days and these opinionated artists have it in spades, says Jasmine Gardner

  ---

Why Sam's in the clear over that M&S dress

At last the truth about the M&S spotted dress that Sam Cam wore to the Conservative Party Conference

All stories