Serving a sentence for non-payment of a fine
If you receive a fine and do not pay it, we will try to collect it through deductions from your income or consider placing attachments on your belongings. If this cannot be done, we will send the fine to the police to consider which action to take.
Serving 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).
Important information
You do not have the option to serve the 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 if and how to take action.
It's too late for a payment agreement when the petition has been sent to the
police
Once we have sent a petition to the police, it's too late to enter into a payment agreement with us.
From this moment on, you deal with the local police. They will 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, we will let the police know how much you've paid. This will reduce the number of days to serve. If you've paid it all, we'll ask the police to close the case.