Drivers pull fast one over parking fines

EXOTIC supercars including Ferraris, Lamborghinis and a Bugatti Veyron worth £830,000 have helped notch up more than £4.5million in unpaid parking fines in central London.

Westminster council said many of the vehicles belong to foreign-registered drivers.

The council said the wealthy motorists were flouting the law, safe in the knowledge that British parking authorities could not trace them overseas.

The owner of a £200,000 Lamborghini Murciélago with the number plate E477 a car registered in Dubai owes almost £2,000 for 17 outstanding tickets.

The driver of a £180,000 Ferrari Scaglietti with the number plate 322889 owes more than £2,000 for 19 unpaid fines.

One of the most high-profile offenders is the owner of the Bugatti Veyron, the world's fastest and most expensive production supercar with a top speed of 250mph.

Despite the driver's wealth they still seem unable or unwilling to pay a parking fine dating back to June 2007.The owner of a £300,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom, number plate 13000, has run up fines worth nearly £3,000 after failing to pay for parking tickets.

The owner of a £50,000 Hummer, registered in America with the number plate U19HPS, owes £4,000 after being issued with 35 fines.

The worst offender of all is the owner of a motorbike, registration 362 EEC, who owes Westminster £45,000 after clocking up nearly 400 fines.

Westminster is demanding a change in legislation that would allow local authorities access to overseas driver and vehicle registration data, enabling them to enforce parking fines.

Member for transport, Danny Chalkley, said: "No one likes getting a parking ticket but most motorists play fair and either pay the fine or follow the appeals process.

"Yet a tiny minority feel as though the rules of this country do not apply to them.

"We would like to see a more rigorous system put in place to send a clear message that this blatant disregard of the law will not be tolerated."

According to SPARKS, a coalition of London councils established to tackle the problem of penalty dodging by foreign drivers, a total of 330,000 tickets worth £12.9million are issued to foreign-registered vehicles in London each year for parking and other contraventions.