CCTV camera confuses a woman for a car, issues ticket to car owner

Look, the robot dogs have sniper rifles and drones now; it's clear The Robot Apocalypse is exactly where we're headed. It's also clear that part of the apocalypse will be caused by robots that still haven't learned to identify what they're looking at. Surry, England resident David Knight got another reminder of that when he received notice of a fine for driving in a bus lane in Bath, England, 120 miles from where he lives. As The Daily Mail reported, the CCTV system monitoring the bus lane over the Pulteney Bridge thought it took a picture of Knight's Volkswagen Transporter with the license plate "KN19TER." What the CCTV camera actually took a picture of was a woman walking in the bus lane, that woman wearing a T-shirt with the word "KNITTER" on it.

Since the process from snapshot to mailing a penalty appears to be entirely automated, no one looked at the photo. Not only that, the CCTV caught KNITTER in June, but only sent the fine to KN19TER last month. Not paying such a fine within 30 days causes it to rise from £60 to £90, but it's hard to pay a fine within 30 days — never minding the fact that you didn't commit the offense in the first place — when you haven't received it.