£545m in court fines unpaid

OFFENDERS in Greater Manchester are better at paying court fines than those in most other parts of the country, figures have revealed.

Statistics from the Ministry of Justice show 14 per cent of fines imposed by magistrates and crown courts across the region went unpaid between April and December last year, compared with 18 per cent nationally.

A judge or magistrate can impose a fine as the whole or part of a sentence for a wide range of offences, including theft, assault, drink-driving, having no motor insurance, or failing to pay a TV licence. Failure to pay penalties can result in imprisonment.

Despite success across Greater Manchester, a high profile Government campaign, at the end of the 2008-9 financial year, £545 million of court fines were outstanding.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said fines were pointless unless they were enforced, and called for more emphasis on preventing crime happening in the first place.

Mr Huhne said: “It does not matter how much or how many times you fine people — if they know they can get away without paying, fines won’t deter people from committing more crime.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesman insisted action was being taken to increase collection rates, including “tracking down” non-payers.

The 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.

“A number of measures are being used to improve financial penalty enforcement. These include an increase in debt chasing by phone, working with magistrates to get more fines paid on the day they are imposed, and better trained and equipped enforcement officers, with more tracing tools at their disposal to track down non-payers.”

The figures come a week after it was revealed more than one in 10 criminals across Greater Manchester were let off with a fine after being found guilty of committing a crime punishable with a prison sentence.

Last year 2,358 criminals were given the cash penalty for the indictable offences which include, grand theft, robbery, burglary, arson, conspiracy, fraud, and other major crimes, as well as attempts to commit them.