SA’s worst fine dodgers rack up more debt or haven’t paid anything back since being named
SA’S worst fine dodgers have either racked up more debt or failed to make any repayments since being named by the State Government last year - and more names have been added to the shame file.
SOUTH Australia’s worst fine dodgers have either racked up more debt or failed to make any repayments since being named and shamed by the State Government last year.
Since the infamous five worst debtors for unpaid traffic and court fines were exposed in December, another eight names have joined the list.
At the same time, the total amount of outstanding fines owed by all debtors has jumped from $260 to $337 million — up by 30 per cent — latest Government figures show.
The Government decided to name and shame SA’s worst fine dodgers as part of a crackdown to recover the millions of dollars owed, but none of those originally named has been motivated by their public exposure to repay their debts.
Attorney-General John Rau said these debtors were “deliberately avoiding payment’’ when their names and dates of birth were first publicised on the Government’s Fines Enforcement and Recovery website.
But since then, three of the five have continued to thumb their noses at authority and their debts have grown.
According to figures supplied to The Advertiser, 25-year-old Liberty Walton increased her debt this year by more than $8000 to a total $123,303, for 229 outstanding parking and traffic fines.
In the same period, Tom Theodoropoulos, 45, has added more than $3000 to his debt, which is now more than $60,000, while Stephen Parsons, 43, has added almost $4000 to grow his debt to $59,342.
Ali Faraj, 32, still has the highest debt of $150,000 for 12 court-imposed fines and compensation orders for ripping off customers in unlicensed used-car deals and home renovations.
Of the names added to the list, Jonathon David Magro, 40, owes the most, with almost $59,000 worth of unpaid fines.
Next is Michael Corner, 47, who owes almost $49,000 for parking and traffic fines.
In total, the 13 individuals named owe $740,000 for 921 unpaid fines.
There is also a company fine dodging shame file with four businesses named owing more than $170,000 in total
Mr Rau said there was “no excuse’’ for fine dodgers “and it is unacceptable that some people do not contact the Fines Payment Unit to work out a payment plan’’.
“I have been in discussions with the director of the unit about what additional measures might be available to encourage these recalcitrants to pay their fines,” he said.
In good news for the Government, the fines unit has recovered more than $157 million since it was established in February 2014 — of which $83 million was paid back this year.
Another $147 million of debt is being repaid by instalment payments.
The driver’s licences of more than 60,000 debtors have been suspended, 44,000 of those in the past seven months.