Nearly half a million pounds owed to council in unpaid parking fines in Northamptonshire
Almost a quarter of all parking fines handed out in Northamptonshire remain unpaid, with the council owed more than half a million pounds from offenders.
Northamptonshire County Council issued 54,172 fixed penalty notices for parking or traffic infringements between April, 2018, and March, 2019, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.
As of November 29, £1,760,305.07 has been paid in fines but £547,542.18 is outstanding.
The most common parking infringement is parking in a restricted street during prescribed times, with 14,428 offenders, while 7,125 motorists parked without a permit and 6,071 did not display a valid ticket.
One person was fined for parking 'with additional payment made', two drivers stopped in the restricted area outside a school, and three motorists caused an obstruction.
Out of all of those fined, 1,025 of them were for foreign registered vehicles and 834 could not be sent the notice because they could not be traced, the council admitted.
The amount of parking fines handed out went up by just over 2,000 in 2018/19 compared to 2017/18.
For 2017/18, £1,535,328.01 has been paid by offenders with £127,583.27 outstanding.