COURT FINES AND PAYMENTS

 

FINES AND FINANCIAL PENALTIES

 

In Tayside, Central and Fife, the Scottish Courts Service or SCS will be responsible for the collection of a range of Fines & Financial penalties.

 

These are listed below:

 

-         PF Conditional Offers of Fixed Penalty

-         Fiscal Fines

-         Fiscal Compensation

-         Fiscal Fines and Compensation

-         Police Conditional Offers of Fixed Penalty (Traffic)

-         Police Conditional Offers of Fixed Penalty (Camera)

-         Police Conditional Offers of Fixed Penalty (Anti Social Behaviour)

-         Police Registered Fines originating from Police Conditional Offers of Fixed Penalty (Anti Social Behaviour)

-         Police Criminalised Parking Fines

-         Police Registered Fines originating from Police Criminalised Parking Fine

-         Court imposed financial penalties

 

CURRENT PAYMENT OPTIONS

 

-         Cash

-         Debit Card

-         Credit Card

-         Cheque*

-         Postal Order*

*Cheques and postal orders should be made payable to “Scottish Court Service”

 

Please Note:

From 9 February 2009 payment of the above fines and financial penalties will no longer be accepted in Local Authority Offices in Perth and Angus.

 

From 16 February 2009 payment of the above fines and financial penalties will no longer be accepted in Local Authority Offices in Central.

 

From 23 February 2009 payment of the above fines and financial penalties will no longer be accepted at Local Authority Offices in Fife.

 

FINES ENFORCEMENT (RECOVERY)

 

From 10 March 2008 there were changes to the fines enforcement process throughout Scotland. From 23 February 2009 these will apply to the Justice of the Peace Courts in Tayside, Central and Fife.

 

A major change was the introduction of Fines Enforcement Officers. The main role of a Fines Enforcement Officer is to:

-         Make the enforcement of fines and financial penalties more effective and efficient;

-         Give information and advice to offenders about how to make payments;

-         Give advice and assistance to those that want to pay but have a genuine difficulty in paying; and

-         Use a range of sanctions against those who can pay but choose not to pay.

 

To assist the Fines Enforcement Officer, when a court imposes a financial penalty, it can also make an Enforcement Order.

 

If an offender defaults in payment of their fine or financial penalty, the Enforcement Order allows the Fines Enforcement Officer to:

-         Take money directly from the offender’s benefits

-         Take money from the offender’s earnings

-         Arrest funds in the offender’s bank or building society account

-         Seize a vehicle belonging to the offender. The vehicle can be sold to clear the unpaid fine or financial penalty.

 

A Fines Enforcement Officer can also refer an offender back to the court where the ultimate sanction might be imprisonment or a Supervised Attendance Order.

 

For more information, visit the Scottish Court Service website: www.scotcourts.gov.uk

Information from Scottish Courts Website.