A Jaguar driver who had repeatedly failed to settle his three fines for road traffic offences swiftly paid up after finding his luxury £20,000 car had been clamped outside his house.
The man owed £345 for two offences of driving without insurance and a police imposed fine and ignored repeated warning letters and a funds arrestment order.
But when fines enforcement officers at Livingston Justice of the Peace Court issued a vehicle seizure order and the man’s Jaguar XF 5.0 V8 Premium Luxury was clamped at his home in the town, he paid the bill – and the £68 clamping fee.
The man was among fines dodgers across Scotland who settled their bills after finding their vehicles immobilised as a new electronic interface between the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) and the DVLA vehicle database makes it easier to track down drivers with unpaid fines.
Drivers face having their vehicles clamped if they do not settle their fines and have to pay additional clamping costs and mounting daily fees when a car is taken into storage Vehicles are ultimately scrapped or sold off if they do not settle their fines.
A new report released by SCTS today reveals that the fines collection rate remains consistently strong. It shows that 88% of the value of Sheriff Court fines imposed during the three-year period between 2015/16 and 2017/18 has either been paid or is on track to be paid – a rise of one percentage point compared with the figure at 18 July 2018. The report shows that 88% of JP Court fines by value imposed over the three-year period has also been paid or is on track to be paid by instalments.
The new edition of the report contains enhanced presentation of the statistics, using charts and tables, designed to give the scale and context of the three-year figures. The changes have been made in response to customer feedback on the document.
SCTS Chief Operations Officer David Fraser said: “The fines enforcement teams continue to be highly effective in securing unpaid fines – ignoring your fine and not speaking to an enforcement officer if you are having difficulty paying is very unwise. Failure to pay, or to engage with our officers, will result in strong sanctions being taken including arrestment of wages, bank accounts, your car being clamped or inconvenience and embarrassment by being arrested when travelling abroad.”
Clamping vehicles is one of a number of measures available to the SCTS for recovering unpaid fines. Other measures include freezing bank accounts, arresting wages, taking money directly from benefits and even arresting non-payers at airports.
In all cases, offenders have opportunities to make payment of their fines at a reasonable and affordable instalment rate. All defaulters are issued warnings before action is taken. Those in genuine financial difficulty can engage with enforcement officers to discuss payment terms.
Most fines can be paid round the clock on our secure website at www.scotcourts.gov.uk/payyourfine or using our automated telephone payment system by phoning 0300 790 0003. Only fines which involve the endorsement of a driving record cannot be paid electronically at the moment. For those penalties that cannot be paid using the online or telephone payment systems, customers can post payments to Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, Central Processing Unit, PO Box 23, Glasgow, G59 9DA or take it in person to any Scottish court fines office.
Notes to Editors
• Fine defaulters are not named for data protection reasons.
• A copy of the most recent SCTS Quarterly Fines Report is available at: http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/about-the-scottish-court-service/reports-data
• Many fines are paid by instalments over the course of two or more years which will affect collection rate figures.