Road fine dodger’s Jag is clamped

A Jaguar driver who had repeatedly failed to settle his three fines for road traffic offences swiftly paid up after finding his £20,000 car had been clamped outside his house.

The West Lothian man owed £345 for two offences of driving without insurance and a police imposed fine and ignored repeated warning letters and a funds arrestment order.

But when fines enforcement officers at Livingston Justice of the Peace Court issued a vehicle seizure order and the man’s luxury Jaguar XF 5.0 V8 Premium Luxury was clamped at his home in the town, he paid the bill – and the £68 clamping fee. The man was among fines dodgers across Scotland who settled their bills after finding their vehicles immobilised as a new electronic interface between the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) and the DVLA vehicle database makes it easier to track down drivers with unpaid fines.

SCTS chief operations officer, David Fraser, said: “The fines enforcement teams continue to be highly effective in securing unpaid fines – ignoring your fine and not speaking to an enforcement officer if you are having difficulty paying is very unwise. Failure to pay, or to engage with our officers, will result in strong sanctions being taken including arrestment of wages, bank accounts, your car being clamped or inconvenience and embarrassment by being arrested when travelling abroad.” Clamping vehicles is one of a number of measures available to the SCTS for recovering unpaid fines. Other measures include freezing bank accounts, arresting wages or taking money directly from benefits.