Fixed Penalty Fines

Responsibility for the enforcement of overdue fixed penalties for vehicle offences moved from the Isle of Man Constabulary to the Coroners from November 1. Under the new system, Coroners will be responsible for collecting £60 vehicle related fixed penalty tickets which have not been paid. But the amount payable will now double from £60 to £120 to include the Coroner’s collection fee of £60 (as approved by Tynwald via the Coroners Fees Order 2006 in October 2006).

Under the previous system, people had 42 days to pay the original fixed penalty of £40, including time to appeal. Failure to pay by the deadline means the amount increases to £60 and non-payment could result in a committal warrant being issued to the Police, potentially resulting in a seven day jail term.

Mr Alex Downie MLC, Treasury’s political liaison for the General Registry,said:

‘The new system transfers responsibility for the enforcement of vehicle fixed penalties to the Coroners, which will result in a warrant of execution being issued for non-payment rather than a warrant of committal. Although that sounds serious, it means the Coroners can seek payment and seize goods in lieu of payment. It’s both a more proportionate penalty for non-payment of a parking fine and also a better use of police time.’

At present more than £200,000 in vehicle fixed penalty tickets remains uncollected since January 2003. Every year police are asked to enforce around 500 court financial penalties and around 2,000 vehicle fixed penalties (e.g. parking fines). The new system being implemented under the 1985 Collection of Fines etc. Act will make Coroners responsible for collecting unpaid fixed penalties.

The change resulted from political criticism of the amount owed in unpaid fines. A Fines Working Group was established two years ago to look into the system, which resulted in a recommendation to the Council of Ministers to switch to the new system.

Motorists should note the new collection system relates only to £60 fixed penalty tickets issued by the police, traffic wardens or parking controllers and not for local authority or government-owned car parks. However, Fixed Penalty tickets included may also have been issued for ‘non-parking’ offences e.g. failure to display road tax etc