Contractors get £35 for every £75 ticket issued

WHILE fines worth nearly £1 million may have been handed out, only £219,155 has found its way back into Maidstone Borough Council’s coffers.

Yet £455,450 has gone to the private contractors responsible for issuing the fines, which has been Kingdom Security since March this year, following its takeover of former incumbent XFOR.

Under the terms of the agreement, the council should make £40 from every £75 ticket issued, with £35 going to Kingdom.

A council spokesman explained Kingdom had made more because it was entitled to its £35 payment once a valid ticket had been issued.

Delay

But there can be a delay between when a ticket is issued and when the council receives the cash. If people refuse to pay, they may have to be pursued through the courts.

Of the £918,450 issued in fines, only £674,645 has been collected.

The council has cancelled 2,300 fines, writing off £172,500 in the process.

This leaves £71,3405 still to be collected.

The council said it was currently pursuing more than 200 non-payment offenders through the courts.

A spokesman added: “We are talking to the contractor about ticketing procedures to improve payment rates.

“But it is important to note that the purpose of the scheme is to improve the cleanliness of our streets, change people’s attitudes to dropping litter and help pay for litter education campaigns and improvements to the street cleaning service.”

It justified this saying those who drop litter should contribute to the cost of clearing it up.

Fixed penalty notices must be paid within 14 days, although this can be extended to 60 days in special circumstances.