The letters informing Donal Galvin that he had received a 40 fine came in two separate envelopes last week.

The first letter stated that the 26year-old's jeep was parked illegally in Dublin's Capel Street at 6.10pm on Wednesday 14 March.

But when he opened up the second official envelope, he was amazed to see a further ticket saying his vehicle had been seen parked illegally at 6.10pm on the North Wall Quay, nearly two miles away from Capel Street.

Galvin, who is an assistant bank manager, says he was on Capel Street on the day in question but only stopped for one minute to pick up something and wasn't parked illegally.

He wasn't anywhere near the North Wall Quay and wants to know how it is possible that he was in two places at the same time. He will now have to take a day off work to go to court and argue his case.

The Lucan man said: "It is crazy that I am expected to pay two separate fines for supposedly being in two places at once. It is utter madness. I drove into Capel Street to pick up a package and was there for about a minute and wasn't illegally parked.

"There was nothing on my car when I came back to indicate that I had committed any offence and the first thing I knew about it was when I returned from a holiday with my girlfriend last Sunday to find the letters waiting for me.

"I had no cause to be anywhere near the North Wall and went in the opposite direction after I left town. I'd like to know if this type of thing is happening all the time in the hope that people might not notice.

"If it is a mistake, then that is fair enough, but I'll have to go before a judge to get them quashed and that will take a lot of time and effort. I am not magic and certainly wasn't in two different locations at the same time, " added Galvin.

He has 28 days to pay the two 40 fines or they will be increased to 60 after that. If he fails to pay after that, then he will eventually be summoned and taken to court.

A garda spokesperson said that Galvin should contact the Fixed Charge Processing Office on Capel Street directly and explain the situation and they would investigate further.