A WOMAN refused library membership unless she pays £45 says she is being fined for keeping two books she returned four years ago.

Maureen Jopson, 56, of Stockett Lane, Coxheath, near Maidstone, has been a member of the village library for years. She is adamant that she returned The Book of Maidstone and Intelligence Chief Extraordinaire in 1998 and is refusing to pay the fines.

"I am not going to pay for something I haven't got," she said. "I would rather go without books or pay for them. "They are putting the onus on me to produce two books which I haven't got because they have been returned and they will not accept that they are in the wrong."

According to Mrs Jopson, the library was having computer problems when she took the books back. She said: "I was told to leave the books on the counter to be dealt with when the problem was sorted out."

She claims she went into the library to explain the situation after receiving a reminder card and was told they would "sort it out". The library service has investigated the complaint and is satisfied that its records are accurate.

Mrs Jospson said an official told her that the books were both popular and had they been returned, they would almost certainly have been loaned out to someone else and therefore automatically discharged from her card.