Drivers who fail to pay their fines run the risk of their vehicles being clamped, taken into storage and ultimately scrapped or sold off, according to a warning from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS).
The warning comes after a Fife man had to pay up more than £1,600 to settle five outstanding fines when his car was clamped outside his home. The man had fines for five road traffic and vehicle licensing offences imposed at courts in Dunfermline and Edinburgh that had not been paid.
After joint enforcement action was taken by officers in the Lothian and Borders and Tayside, Fife and Central Sheriffdoms, a seizure of vehicle order was issued and the man’s Audi car was clamped. He settled the fines totalling £1,633 in full before having the car released.
In another example reported by SCTS, five vehicles were apparently seized in one day in Lothian and Borders for non-payment of fines for offences including drink driving, driving without insurance and not displaying a road tax disc.
Clamping vehicles is one of a number of measures available to SCTS for recovering unpaid fines. Other measures include freezing bank accounts, taking money directly from earnings or benefits and even arresting non-payers as they travel through ports or airports.
A new report from SCTS has revealed that the fines collection rate remains consistently strong. It shows that 87% of the value of Sheriff Court fines imposed during the three-year period between 1st April 2012 and 31st March 2015 has either been fully paid or is on track to be paid through instalments. This is apparently on par with the value of fines paid as at 11th April 2016.
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