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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/ja...crimes-victims
Motorists caught speeding or given a parking ticket among those set to pay an extra £15 to fund support services.
People who commit minor driving offences and antisocial behaviour face paying bigger fines to fund a government scheme for compensating victims of crime.Since 2007, a £15 surcharge has been added to fines for those convicted of crime, with the cash going to finance support services.
Ministers now want to extend the levy to on-the-spot fines and fixed penalty notices.
This would include motorists caught speeding, using a mobile phone while driving, not wearing a seatbelt, or anyone given a parking ticket, as well as those caught scrawling graffiti or being drunk and disorderly.
Under the plans, the current fine of £60 for speeding would be increased to £75.
In a parliamentary answer just before Christmas, justice minister Claire Ward said: "The victim surcharge was introduced on April 1, 2007 and has been applied initially only to fines imposed in magistrates and Crown courts at a rate of £15.
"We intend to add the surcharge to other disposals as soon as it becomes feasible to do so.
"Proceeds raised from the surcharge provide a ring-fenced source of funding for a wide variety of organisations providing non-financial support to victims and witnesses of crime."
Between April 2008 and last January the scheme raised more than £6.6m.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "It is government policy that, where possible, offenders should contribute to victims and victims' services as part of their reparation.
Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: "You will have a hard job convincing motorists this is anything other than a stealth tax to shore up a creaking system strapped for cash.
"Motorists need to obey the rules of the road but they also have to believe the penalty for committing relatively minor offences is fair, and not just some arbitrary figure."
"If these offences have serious consequences then drivers will find themselves in court where a proportionate compensation figure can be set. More generally, if money needs to be set aside for victims then this should be coming out of the existing charges."
CJ
Motorists caught speeding or given a parking ticket among those set to pay an extra £15 to fund support services.
People who commit minor driving offences and antisocial behaviour face paying bigger fines to fund a government scheme for compensating victims of crime.Since 2007, a £15 surcharge has been added to fines for those convicted of crime, with the cash going to finance support services.
Ministers now want to extend the levy to on-the-spot fines and fixed penalty notices.
This would include motorists caught speeding, using a mobile phone while driving, not wearing a seatbelt, or anyone given a parking ticket, as well as those caught scrawling graffiti or being drunk and disorderly.
Under the plans, the current fine of £60 for speeding would be increased to £75.
In a parliamentary answer just before Christmas, justice minister Claire Ward said: "The victim surcharge was introduced on April 1, 2007 and has been applied initially only to fines imposed in magistrates and Crown courts at a rate of £15.
"We intend to add the surcharge to other disposals as soon as it becomes feasible to do so.
"Proceeds raised from the surcharge provide a ring-fenced source of funding for a wide variety of organisations providing non-financial support to victims and witnesses of crime."
Between April 2008 and last January the scheme raised more than £6.6m.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "It is government policy that, where possible, offenders should contribute to victims and victims' services as part of their reparation.
Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: "You will have a hard job convincing motorists this is anything other than a stealth tax to shore up a creaking system strapped for cash.
"Motorists need to obey the rules of the road but they also have to believe the penalty for committing relatively minor offences is fair, and not just some arbitrary figure."
"If these offences have serious consequences then drivers will find themselves in court where a proportionate compensation figure can be set. More generally, if money needs to be set aside for victims then this should be coming out of the existing charges."
CJ
