It's the tone as much as anything, I think, that gets my goat. 

"The warrant authorises a certificated bailiff to seize and sell goods belonging to you to the value of the outstanding amount plus the cost of executing the warrant."

What is the heinous crime that prompts a letter including such threats? Not spotting a road sign on a dark, wet winter's night. It hasn't been a good driving month for various members of my family, with three penalty charge notices arriving in short order.

One found they had inadvertently strayed into an Oxford bus lane after working late in the city. There are no buses in view on the attached evidential photographs, no traffic was held up and no benefit was sought or gained; it was just a plain old error of a few seconds, affecting nobody, positively or negatively, on the planet.

But hard luck: that'll be £70 (or £35 if they can afford it before next payday). Another strayed into Dundee city centre because they were delivering a piano to a venue so couldn't park farther away.

This particular low-emissions zone fine doubles with each transgression and, unlike in London, there's no lower-cost pass for non-compliant vehicles, just the fine: £60 (or £30 if they can afford it now). The final one missed Oxford's new congestion charge: £70, or £35 if they have it now, rising to £105 if they don't and the bailiffs thereafter.

Is it a fair cop, guv? Each of these schemes has been introduced seemingly with good intention: to ease the passage of mass transit, improve air quality and/or reduce congestion. And doesn't there need to be some disincentive so that people comply?

Perhaps, but it's worth noting that mostly people do abide by bylaws and customs even when there's no penalty if they don't. We stand on the right on London's escalators; we filter off aeroplanes row by row; we don't push in front of people in shops.

Is there another area of daily life that rivals motoring, where the punishment is so disproportionate to the offence, where a few innocently mistaken seconds can cost you so much? It's hard to shake the feeling that drivers are targeted because it's easy.