Melton motorists owe state coffers more than $76 million in unpaid fines. And the sheriff is warning fare evaders to call now rather than face steeper costs.
Recent figures reveal there are almost 200,000 warrants outstanding for 23,000 Melton motorists, placing the municipality in the infamous top 10 list for fare evasion.
Casey and Hume councils hold the top two places for a second year in a row, with Frankston, Wyndham, Greater Dandenong, Melton, Whittlesea, Moreland, Brimbank and Mornington Peninsula rounding out the top 10.
Victorian sheriff Brendan Facey said while the number of infringement notices decreased by 4.6 per cent in the 2015-16 financial year, there was a seven per cent jump in the number of warrants issued to recover long-term unpaid fines.
To tackle its growing debt recovery problem, the justice department launched a statewide call centre initiative in July last year to help people manage and pay their fines early.
As part of the initiative, operators were calling people who’d passed the first due date on their infringement notices as a reminder.
Mr Facey said in seven months, operators have contacted more than 31,500 people and recovered $16.2 million in unpaid fines.
It’s also arranged payment plans for 18,500 warrants, valued at $3.6 million.
“Unfortunately, some people are still not getting the message that you cannot ignore your unpaid fines,” he said.
“We don’t want to see people’s matters escalating through the system. We want people to speak to us about their options before they are caught by the sheriff’s office.”
He said the call centre initiative had been well-received, with many people simply forgetting they had an outstanding fine or needing help to understand the process to finalise their matter.
“They were genuinely pleased to have the opportunity to speak to someone about it, instead of dealing with an automated process or deciding it was all just too difficult and ignoring it,” Mr Facey said.
People issued with infringement notices are being urged to deal with them quickly, as the fines can quickly mount up if ignored. Someone ignoring a $389 red-light infringement for six months could end up having to pay $576.60.
Details: fines.vic.gov.au
