Hundreds of Victorians have wrongly had their licences suspended because the state body responsible for administering fines is plagued with errors, the ombudsman has found.

Key points: Ombudsman Deborah Glass said complaints about the body had soared

Ombudsman Deborah Glass said complaints about the body had soared Many complaints related to poor communication, inflexibility and bad handling of complaints

Many complaints related to poor communication, inflexibility and bad handling of complaints Its problematic operations were causing anxiety, trauma and "sleepless nights", she found

A father who received fines for his dead son and a taxi driver who wrongly went a month without wages are just some of hundreds of complainants about Fines Victoria — the third most complained-about agency in the state.

In a damning report, Ombudsman Deborah Glass said her office had been "inundated" with complaints about the body, and its operations were simply "not good enough".

In one case, a father provided a death certificate for his late son, but Fines Victoria continued to send enforcement letters, which was "extremely stressful and upsetting".

Another case saw a taxi driver go without wages for a month while his licence was suspended, despite the body later accepting he did not commit the traffic offence he was fined for.

Many of the more than 600 complaints to the Ombudsman also reported poor communication — or a lack of it — with the new authority.

Ali, a newly arrived teenage refugee, incurred a series of fines in October 2017.

His community lawyer asked for a review and requested all correspondence be sent to his office, rather than to Ali, because he "feared that he would be subjected to physical violence if his father were to discover the infringements".

But Fines Victoria repeatedly sent correspondence to the home, despite acknowledging throughout the process that this should not keep occurring.

A government spokesman labelled the issues at the fines body "completely unacceptable."

The report also noted there was a backlog of 200,000 nominations for traffic camera offences.

The authority is designed to be the one-stop shop for all fines in the state, replacing Civil Compliance Victoria in late 2017, but since its inception complaints to the Ombudsman have soared, with a 74 per cent increase on its predecessor.

"Indeed, it was the third-most complained about agency in Victoria in 2018, no mean feat considering over a thousand public bodies are within the Ombudsman's jurisdiction,'' Ms Glass said.

'Frustration, anxiety and sometimes trauma'

Ms Glass found that many of the problems were due to failures with the IT system — but not all.

"Some [problems] stem from poor communication, inflexible exercise of discretion, or poor handling of complaints. While these are, sadly, perennial themes in many agencies, if the system is failing it is even more important to get the human element right,'' Ms Glass said.

Issues with IT, which had been present since Fines Victoria was established, will not be fixed until at least June.

The director of Fines Victoria, Emma Catford, said it was working to fix the system as soon as possible.

Deborah Glass said poor handling of complaints made IT problems at Fines Victoria worse. ( Supplied: Ombudsman's office )

The ombudsman said the impact of the issues should not be underestimated.

"The worry and frustration were then compounded by people's inability to get through to the agency and have their complaints fairly resolved.

"They plainly were causing sleepless nights; people told us of anxious elderly parents, frustration, anxiety and sometimes, trauma," she said.

One woman, Karen, told the probe it was distressing to deal with Fines Victoria when she tried to sort out fines during a change of address.

"I'm seven months pregnant, and to not have a response after all this time. I don't think I've ever dealt with a government department that has just completely ignored me. It's just … it's horrible,'' she said.

Opposition spokesman Tim Smith said Fines Victoria's proper operation was 18 months overdue and $15 million over budget.

"This is outrageous behaviour that really shows a disregard for people's lives and the interests of everyday Victorians," he said.