A MAN issued with a £60 anti-social behaviour fine after being caught urinating in a city-centre street had his Mercedes clamped after failing to pay the penalty.
It is the first enforcement of its kind in Scotland as the courts service intensifies its efforts to collect money owed from offenders who have been served with financial penalties.
Figures show that more than £26 million remains outstanding in court fines – more than a quarter of the £92m imposed over the last four years.
The man, who has not been named but is from the north of Glasgow, received the original fine after being issued with an anti-social behaviour fixed penalty notice by police.
Action was taken to immobilise his car after he failed to pay up, with the man forced to pay the fixed penalty – plus additional clamping costs – to reclaim his vehicle. The Scottish Court Service said it had ultimate power to scrap vehicles should their owners fail to pay the police fines.
Interim SCS executive director Cliff Binning said: "We will take decisive enforcement action if you fail to pay a fine, including clamping, seizing and even selling or scrapping your car.
"We pursue all unpaid fines, from road violations to court penalties."
Mr Binning said there was "no excuse" for offenders not to pay. A number of enforcement powers can be now be used to collect outstanding fines, including arresting wages, deducting benefits and freezing bank accounts.
Figures show that as of January, more than 433,300 enforcement orders had been granted to collect sheriff court fines, and payments deducted directly from benefits had reached almost £1.7m.
But concerns have been raised about the overall performance in the collection of fines.
Figures from Scottish Court Service (SCS) show that £26m remains outstanding for fines issued between 2009/10 and September 30 last year – a £1.4m increase on the value of fines outstanding at the same point last year.
The statistics also show an increase in the number of remaining fines – with 185,419 outstanding compared to 170,980 at the same point last year.
Politicians claimed the figures undermined the justice system, given the number of offenders seemingly dodging their penalties.
Steps to increase collection include an online payment tool, with electronic payments reaching £2.8m last year.
Police antisocial behaviour fixed penalties were introduced to tackle low-level offending such as vandalism and free police resources for more serious crimes.
For fines registered in the six months until the end of September 2012, 50% of the value has been paid or due to have been paid by the end of January.
But enforcement of historic fines remains incomplete, with one in four fines registered in 2009/2010 remaining unpaid.
One-third of the value of all police anti-social behaviour notices issued in 2009/2010 remains outstanding, according to latest figures.
A Scottish Government spokesman earlier said the SCS adopts a robust approach to chasing outstanding fines.
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