Medway Council Missing Out on £10.5 Million in Unpaid Fines
Medway Council is facing a staggering £10.5 million in unpaid fines from various violations
Medway, UK, Parking Fines, Truancy, Littering
Medway: It looks like Medway Council is missing out on a whopping £10.5 million! This money comes from unpaid fines for parking, truancy, and littering over the past three years.
From April 2022 to September 2024, they handed out over 220,000 fines, but 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. The council has been trying to collect these debts, but it’s been a bit of a struggle.
They’ve been taking some cases to court to recover the money, which has cost them around £293,000 so far. They’ve managed to get back about £286,000, but there’s still a lot left to collect.
Most of the fines come from higher-level penalty charge notices, especially 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, but the collection rate is improving.
Interestingly, moving traffic violations have become a hot topic lately. The number of these fines has jumped significantly, and only 44% of them have been paid so far.
There’s also been some controversy around new traffic rules near schools, which restrict cars during drop-off and pick-up times. More cameras are being set up to catch offenders.
Despite the challenges, the council is working hard to collect these fines. They have a tiered system that lowers the fine if paid quickly, which might help get more people to pay up.
So far, they’ve only collected about £2.5 million of the potential £13 million. If they could get all the unpaid fines, they’d be looking at an extra £10.5 million in their pockets!
They’ve also issued thousands of fines for school attendance issues and littering, with mixed results in collections. A spokesperson for the council said they’re committed to fair and transparent enforcement.