METRO: Unpaid court fines rise to £486m

The amount of unpaid court fines has soared to £486million in England and Wales.

Figures showed the total amount owed had increased by 2.5 per cent in the year to March, up from £474million.

 

Critics blamed the Government for the rise, saying the reluctance to jail criminals meant more were being fined instead and many simply did not pay up.

The areas with most owed are London (£111million), West Midlands (£39million), Manchester (£27million) and Merseyside (£24million).

Blair Gibbs, spokesman for the TaxPayers' Alliance, attacked the Government after the figures were released, following a Freedom of Information request.

He said: 'Ministers are relying on fines and weak community sentences because they haven't built enough prisons to cope with our high crime rate.'