Criminals across the north and north-east have dodged almost £650,000 in court fines over the past four years.
Around one in 10 people who have been given financial penalties in the last four years are either behind with their payments or have yet to even start.
The figures, from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS), have been branded a “slap in the face” to victims of crime and have prompted calls for tougher punishments for those flouting the rules.
But the SCTS says it has “consistently strong and improving” collection rates, and “vigorously pursues” all unpaid fines.
Between April 2016 and July 2019, a total of 28,645 penalties worth close to £9.5million were imposed in sheriff and justice of the peace courts across Grampian, the Highlands and the islands.
Of these, Peterhead had the worst repayment rate with 19% of its 2,237 fines either in arrears or completely unpaid.
Elsewhere Banff reported 15% late or missing payments, while Tain had 10%.
At the other end of the scale, Lochmaddy on North Uist imposed 46 fines with just one of these in arrears – representing 2.2%.
The average for all 13 sheriff and justice of the peace courts in the region is 8.8%.
Shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr, who represents the north-east, said the non-repayment rates “completely undermine the credibility of our justice system.”
He said: “This is money lost to the taxpayer but it’s also a slap in the face to the victims of crime too, which is simply not good enough.
“It’s appalling that people have been getting away with this for so many years.
“These figures highlight that people who are being punished in our courts are simply not having to meet the penalty issued to them – it’s unacceptable.
“Regardless of the nature of the offence, everyone who is fined should be made to pay – it can’t be brushed aside and forgotten about.”
A Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service spokesman said: “Our consistently strong and improving collection rates are the clearest indicator that our approach to administrative enforcement is working well.
“The SCTS pursues all unpaid penalties through enforcement action which includes clamping cars, and deducting payment directly from benefits, savings or wages.
“It takes time to collect fines as it is only when defaulters fail to make payment that enforcement measures are used.
“But that certainly does not mean defaulters can escape payment.
“We vigorously pursue all unpaid fines.”
