A Kent council is on the hunt for £10.5 million in unpaid fines from parking, traffic violations, school truancy, and littering.
Medway: So, it turns out that Medway Council is chasing a whopping £10.5 million in unpaid fines. This money comes from parking tickets, traffic violations, school truancy, and littering over the last few years.
From April 2022 to September 2024, they issued over 220,000 fines, and guess what? Nearly 30% of those are still unpaid. That’s a lot of cash just sitting there!
According to a freedom of information request, more than 64,000 fines haven’t been paid. That’s a big chunk of change missing from the council’s budget.
On the bright side, they’ve been getting better at collecting fines each year. They’ve even taken some cases to court to recover the debts, which is a pretty serious step.
Since April 2022, they’ve gone after over 58,000 cases, spending around £293,000 in the process. So far, they’ve managed to recover about £286,000, but there are still some cases hanging in the air.
The higher-level penalty charge notices are the ones that people seem to ignore the most. These fines are for things like parking in disabled spots without a badge or stopping in no-parking zones.
In the last financial year, they issued 41,000 of these fines, but only about half were paid. This year, they’ve issued even more, and it looks like moving traffic violations are becoming the new trend for unpaid fines.
These fines have jumped from just under 4,000 last year to over 10,000 this year. But only 44% of those have been paid so far, which is a bit concerning.
There’s been a lot of chatter about these moving traffic offences, especially with the new School Streets initiative that limits traffic around schools during drop-off and pick-up times.
To tackle this, the council is planning to roll out more automatic number plate recognition cameras. They’re really trying to clamp down on those who don’t follow the rules.
Interestingly, the number of unpaid fines has actually dropped. Last year, there were about 32,000 unpaid fines, but this year it’s down to just over 10,000.
They have a tiered system for fines, so if you pay early, you can save some cash. For instance, a higher-level fine is £35 if paid within 14 days, but it doubles after that.
So far, they’ve collected about £2.5 million out of a potential £13 million. If they manage to collect all the unpaid fines, that could mean an extra £10.5 million for the council.
They’ve also issued nearly 8,000 education penalty notices for kids skipping school, with about 63% of those being paid. Plus, they’ve handed out over 8,500 littering fines, with a decent collection rate there too.
A spokesperson for Medway Council said they’re following all the rules and making sure their processes are fair and transparent. They’re working hard to recover these fines efficiently.
