Capital left in fine mess as parking fee cheats owe £2.6m

Published on Tuesday 8 February 2011 14:38

FINE-dodging motorists are costing the city £2.6 million in lost revenue, new figures reveal.

&#149 23,000 tickets have gone unpaid in the last three years alone

The city council said there were currently more than 23,000 unpaid parking tickets from the last three years alone.

It has led to calls for more to be done to chase those with outstanding debts, with the council accused of "washing their hands of the matter".

A new clamping regime is set to begin in the Capital within weeks in a bid to tackle repeat offenders who rack up dozens of unpaid fines.

The new measures will be the first time in recent years that Scottish motorists have been clamped for failure to pay parking tickets.

&#149 Will clamping serial parking offenders help recoup the 2.6m lost? Vote here

Thousands of drivers, however, are continuing to slip through the net, including foreign motorists who return home without paying fines.

Philip Gomm, a spokesman for the RAC Foundation, said it was time council bosses got to grips with the problem.

He said: "Edinburgh City Council receives about 6m a year from parking, so the amount being lost in unpaid fines is far from inconsequential.

"While it might cost money to pursue persistent offenders, it must be done, or else what sort of message is being sent out to law-abiding citizens?

"For the council simply to wash their hands of the matter is plainly wrong."

Parking bosses say a large number of evaders do not have their vehicles registered with the DVLA, meaning they cannot be traced for unpaid fines.

While the DVLA has the power to clamp untaxed vehicles, the Edinburgh scheme will be the first time a Scottish local authority has had the power to impound cars for unpaid parking tickets.

In December it emerged that more than 445,000 worth of parking tickets racked up by foreign motorists have been cancelled in the past two years.

Edinburgh was among dozens of councils that wrote off thousands of tickets because the drivers could not be traced.

A council spokesman said: "Naturally, we pursue all unpaid fines but we must follow the relevant legislation.

"In cases where fines remain unpaid, outstanding debts are passed to the sheriff officers who attempt to recover monies on behalf of the council. This excludes foreign vehicles."

Last year the Evening News reported the story of a driver who had collected 160 tickets in less than a year, including seven in one week, making him the Capital's biggest parking cheat.

Council bosses had failed to collect any money from the driver and the case was passed to the courts.