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The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service has issued a fresh warning of the consequences facing people who fail to pay their court fines.
According to SCTS, all outstanding fines and financial penalties for which it is responsible are being pursued. It adds that its enhanced tracing facilities make it easier to use the full range of enforcement actions, which include benefit deductions, freezing bank accounts, arresting wages and seizing cars.
SCTS gives examples of these enforcement powers in action, including the case of three Glasgow men who had their bank accounts frozen until they paid up more than £2,100 between them for fines imposed at Glasgow Sheriff and JP Court. The fines related to offences including assault, drug possession, drink driving and having no vehicle insurance.
In Edinburgh, a Gorebridge man who owed £1,350 after being fined for assault and being ordered to pay £500 in compensation reacted quickly after his account was blocked. Despite having ignored warning letters and attempts to arrange payment for a year, he settled the full amount within days after the arrestment order was issued.
Another enforcement measure for recovering unpaid fines available to SCTS is arresting non-payers at ports and airports, and a number of non-payers have recently found themselves detained at airports in Scotland and England.
A man coming back from holiday in the Netherlands with a group of friends was arrested at Liverpool Airport over unpaid fines amounting to £770. The man, from Annan, had been fined at Dumfries Sheriff Court for possession of drugs and road offences including careless driving but had avoided paying since 2016.
His fine was settled by a family member but not before another member of the group of friends was also identified as a non-payer with an outstanding total of £600 in fines relating to speeding offences.
SCTS also reports that two men getting ready to fly from Edinburgh and Glasgow Airports were arrested for unpaid fines. An Airdrie man with fines from Paisley and Coatbridge JP Courts for three offences of driving without insurance and urinating in the street was held as he was about to fly off on holiday to Turkey from Glasgow. He had to settle the £860 bill before being allowed to continue. In Edinburgh, a man who owed £300 for speeding fines at Dumfries JP Court was stopped on his way through the airport and paid up in full before he was released.
According to SCTS, the fines collection rate remains consistently strong. Its latest report shows that 86% of the value of Sheriff Court fines imposed during the three-year period between 1st April 2014 and 31st March 2017 has either been paid or is on track to be paid – a rise of two percentage points compared with the figure in October 2017. Of JP Court fines imposed from 1st April to 30th September 2017, 81% by value has been paid or is on track to be paid by instalments.
If you have been charged with a criminal offence and require representation then contact our specialist criminal defence lawyers today.
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