Foreign drivers avoid Scots fines 05 | 10 | 2010

    SCOTLAND'S LARGEST local authorities are owed close to half a million pounds in unpaid parking fines by drivers of vehicles registered abroad. While Glasgow City Council admitted that over the past three years (£21,180 for 2007/08, £25,200 for 2008/09 and £92,340 for 2009/10) it has £138,720 outstanding from penalty charge notices (PCNs) issued to foreign-registered vehicles, the total owed in Edinburgh is even higher at £211,051. And that's only the total amount written-off last year.

    "Like any other authority, when a penalty notice is not paid, our main method of tracing the registered keeper of the vehicle is through the DVLA database," a spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council said.

    "The DVLA does not hold information on vehicles registered overseas, so that option is not available to us in these cases. We will still pursue outstanding penalties through different channels wherever we can.

    "If we become aware of an overseas-registered vehicle with outstanding penalty notices against it, we may impound it as a means of obtaining the details we need to recover the money. As such, this figure is not final - we will continue to pursue recovery wherever we can."

    In Dundee last year, 187 PCNs remain outstanding for foreign-registered vehicles of around £11,000. The figure for 2008/09 i around £13,500.

    "The British Parking Association, of which Dundee City Council is a member, is lobbying the UK Government to facilitate inter-border co-operation on this issue," a spokesman said.

    Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Aberdeen City Council said: "We issue penalty charge notices to foreign vehicles. Anyone with a vehicle with a foreign registration is required to register the vehicle after one year if the vehicle remains in the UK. Because of this, any PCNs issued to foreign vehicles are progressed to full charge and an inquiry is sent to DVLA. If DVLA has no record of the vehicle owner, the PCN will be cancelled as any other at that stage. We do not keep separate records for foreign vehicles."

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    Jim McGill

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