Targeting the fine dodgers

Motorists who fail to pay parking and speeding fines face the prospect of being tracked down by debt collectors, acting on behalf of the Garda Siochana and local authorities. On Friday the Garda tendered for a debt collector to manage the collection of fines imposed under the penalty points system.

The tender seeks an agency to "provide a collection agency service to manage the payment and related functions of fixed charge notices, and to manage the printing and posting function" under the penalty points system. 
 More than 46,000 drivers have had penalty points added to their licences for speeding since the scheme was introduced last November. In August failure to wear a seatbelt became an offence under the system.
 A London-based company told Motors last week that it is in discussion with five local authorities in the Republic to help them recoup parking fines unpaid by motorists from Northern Ireland.
 Euro Parking Collection (EPC) already works for seven local authorities, mainly in the border counties; Dundalk Urban District Council first signed up in April 2000. EPC has most recently been hired by Monaghan Town Council which signed a deal a number of weeks ago.
 "We are in discussions with several other counties in Ireland," says EPC sales director Mike Blande. "We're spreading south. We have also been over to Dublin several times to talks to authorities there."
 However, discussions in relation to the capital came to nothing. In Dublin, parking fines are not the responsibility of the Garda not the City Council. A Garda spokeswoman said there were "difficulties" with collecting parking fines from motorists outside the State but they hoped upcoming EU legislation would help them in their pursuits.
 EPC has also held discussions with authorities in the North seeking fines from drivers from the Republic. "We are very much part of their plans over the next 18 months or two years," says Blande. A spokesman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said he had no knowledge of the plans. 
 However, he did say: "Under article 27 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Order 1988, any person committing an offence could be arrested if no address is available for service of a summons."
 Blande says his company saves Irish local authorities an average of €450,000 a year and an average of €3.8 million for clients across Europe. EPC also works for local authorities in Britain, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. It specialises in collecting unpaid parking but also collects unpaid speeding fines and pursues motorists who offend while driving hire cars, and those caught using bus lanes and running red lights.
 The company is in the "final stages of negotiation" with police in Switzerland where they will help catch speeding motorists from outside the country, mainly Germany, racing through speed cameras in Zürich. This is the first time the company has been hired by a European police force, Blande adds.
He claims to have an average 50 per cent success rate in chasing down unpaid parking fines, but says this is slightly higher in Northern Ireland since the amounts owed are relatively small compared to other countries.
 So how does it work? The local authority passes the relevant information to EPC. The company then sends this information to the local licencing authority, which will provide extra information on the offender. A reminder of the fine is then sent. The offender can appeal and, if this is rejected by the local authority in question, a second reminder is sent. This is how it has worked up until now. 
 Blande says in the coming month EPC representatives will be "knocking on people's doors. In a month or so we will begin employing debt collectors around Europe to process fines locally on our behalf."
 Monaghan Town Council has called in EPC to help it with fines due from drivers from the North. "It has been getting worse," explains Town Clerk Tony McDonagh. "Some people from the North were coming down regularly - they are aware that under the law here we aren't able to deal with them."
 Monaghan's target is in the region of 200 unpaid fines a year. In monetary terms it wouldn't resurface a small patch of footpath, but it's more to do with equality for motorists.
 "The law on parking fines must be seen to be applied equally," says McDonagh. "There must be a comprehensive application of the traffic and parking laws.
 "We give EPC details of the vehicle and they can establish ownership. They can then write and ask them to pay. This is the first step and it's sufficient in most cases."
It's a win-win arrangement for local authorities such as Monaghan - they pay only a percentage based on a fine being collected. No win, no fee, as it were. 
Six other local councils have joined Monaghan in declaring parking war on fleeing Northerners. Bundoran Town Council, Dundalk Urban District Council, Kells Town Council, Letterkenny Urban District Council, Louth Co Council, and Sligo Corporation are all ERC clients.