Hundred of company car drivers are being fined every day for entering London's congestion charging zone without paying because they do not understand the new system.

Research carried out by industry paper Fleet News indicates that up to 388 company car drivers a day are incurring a £40 fine for entering the zone without paying. Employers will have already paid out at £3 million to pay fines since the charge was introduced, and that is only if they pay early enough. If their systems are slower, it could cost companies an £80 fine for every error.

The figures were revealed following research among 34 leasing companies operating more than 1 million vehicles on behalf of customers. The survey was carried out for the newspaper's annual 'FN50' survey of the country's largest leasing companies.