Misc: One News Page Alert: Fines to include extra victim levy

One News Page Alert: Fines to include extra victim levy

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Fines to include extra victim levy
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Motorists caught speeding or given a parking ticket among those set
to pay an extra Ã‚Â£15 to fund support servicesPeople 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 Ã‚Â£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 Ã‚Â£60 for speeding
would be increased to Ã‚Â£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 Ã‚Â£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
Ã‚Â£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.