CRIMINALS in Gloucestershire owe more than £3.6million in court fines.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show the outstanding bill for uncollected court fines, which includes compensation for victims, stands at £3,624,734.21.

The Ministry of Justice statistics also revealed one criminal who was fined £1,000 for stealing from an employer still has £380 to pay – 18 years after the penalty was imposed.

Sophie Taylor, Gloucestershire fine enforcement officer, said the department was doing everything it could to track down fine dodgers.

She said: "Since the Courts Acts came into power in 2005, we have had a whole range of new measures which we can use to make sure these fines are paid.

"There are always going to be those people who are tricky to track down for whatever reason, but we are working hard to reduce the number of offenders who fall into that category."

Under the current system, offenders have a nominal deadline of 14 days after their court appearance to pay their fine.

But this can be extended indefinitely if they contact court officers to explain why they cannot pay in time. Subsequent payments will then be based on whether an offender is working and how much they can reasonably afford to pay.

However, fines issued years ago do not increase with inflation, meaning criminals who delay their payments could end up shelling out less overall.

Ms Taylor said it was difficult to estimate how many offenders took several years to pay their fines, but the bill for uncollected penalties has risen over the past two years.

In March 2008, the total stood at £3,609,646, a rise of more than £320,000 from 2007.

Between April 2008 and March 2009, fines officers collected more than £3.9m from criminals in the county.

Enforcement officers have a range of measures to punish offenders who refuse to pay, including deducting the penalties from their wages or benefits and clamping their car.

But officers cannot confiscate property or automatically send offenders to jail.

Miss Taylor said that, despite the outstanding bill, Gloucestershire courts had one of the best collection rates in the country.

She said: "We have made massive inroads in recent years, including innovative ideas like sending out postcards and doing secretive weekend initiatives.

"We are very keen to increase public confidence in the system and in our capabilities, especially in terms of collecting compensation for victims. Our team is passionate about fines collection and we are doing everything possible to achieve our goals."