£500m Owed To Courts

Courts across the country are owed more than £500m in unpaid fines.

The latest figures, from the Ministry of Justice, show the amount is growing year on year as magistrates continue to pile fines on top of fines.

In March 2006, the total owed to the courts was just over £474m – that figure rose to more than £486m in 2007 and, in March this year, increased again to just over £500m.

The figures, which are broken down area by area, show that some regions like West Yorkshire and Leicestershire, are clawing back the monies they owe, but some are still falling further behind.

In London, for example, courts were owed little over £111m in March 2007 while in March 2008 they were owed more than £117m.

Nick Herbert, shadow justice secretary, said unless all fines are paid, there was no hope of recouping the massive amount of money owed.

He said: “If one in 20 fines goes unpaid, the Government has no hope of recouping the half a billion pounds of unpaid fines still outstanding.

“Thousands of offenders will get away unpunished.”

The MoJ say the figures show the total debt owed and include fines which are being collected by instalments as well as outstanding monies from previous months/years.

A ministry spokesman said: “The Government takes the issue of fine enforcement very seriously and HM Courts Service is working to ensure clamping down on fine-dodgers is a continued priority nationwide.

“To ensure we tackle this issue the Government has introduced new enforcement sanctions in the Courts Act 2003, made it easier for people to pay fines and is encouraging the use of new technology such as text message reminders for those who go into default and the creation of teams proactively chasing outstanding fines.

“We are having success with reductions in the amount outstanding in a number of places across the country, including South Wales, Leicestershire and Devon and Cornwall.

“These improvements are the result of modern, efficient working practices and the implementation of the Courts Act 2003.”

And a spokesman for Victims Support, added: “An issue that runs alongside this and is perhaps of more importance to the victim is one of unpaid court orders.

“There is a problem when courts impose court orders on people when they are not paid, or paid in dribs and drabs and serve as nothing but an unwelcome reminder of the crime.

“Really, more suitable punishments than fines or court orders should be looked at.”