Serving a sentence for non-payment of a fine
If you receive a fine and do not pay it, we’ll try to collect it through deductions from your income or consider placing an attachment on your belongings. If this cannot be done, we’ll send the fine to the police for them to consider a prison sentence or unpaid work in lieu of a fine.
Serving a sentence for non-payment of a fine means that you must either serve a prison sentence or a community sentence/unpaid work in lieu of a fine.
You cannot choose to serve a sentence instead of paying – if you have the financial ability to pay your fine, you must do so. If you’re unable to pay, the police will decide whether you’ll serve a sentence and how it will be carried out.
It's too late for a payment agreement once the petition for sentencing has been sent to the police
Once we’ve sent a petition for sentencing to the police, it's too late to enter into a payment agreement with us. From this moment on, you must deal directly with the local police. They’ll also be the ones to decide when to call you in to serve your sentence.
You can make payments towards the fine even without a payment agreement
If you make payments towards your fine during your sentence, we’ll let the police know how much you've paid. This will reduce the number of days you’ll need to serve. If you've paid it all, we'll ask the police to close the case.