Drivers who refused to pay £50 parking ticket in Oswestry landed with £780 bill each

They were brought to court after being slapped with a ticket in car parks in the town.

The vehicles were among six parked illegally in Oswestry, where no parking fees had been paid by the person responsible for leaving them there.

All five were prosecuted in their absence by Shropshire Council as part of a crackdown on motorists who fail to pay up or reply to warning letters.

The council today said the action was a warning to all motorists that they cannot simply ignore a parking ticket.

It warned that offenders could not hide behind the excuse of claiming they were not the driver.

Each of those brought to court faced an offence for failing to identify the driver, to give information relating to the identification of the driver of a motor vehicle under section 112 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.

Mike Davies, on behalf of the council, told Telford Magistrates Court that five of the defendants had not replied.

He said legal action had therefore been started, culminating in the court case.

He said: "Owners are contacted with a warning and if there is no response then legal action is pursued.

"We have no details of the names of who parked the cars," he told the magistrates.

The infringements happened between April and August this year.

The cases were found proved against Mrs AC Hughes, of Church Lane, Lansanntfraid, Powys; Ms M Jones, Pen-Y-Bont, Powys; Mr R Roberts, of Penddalfa Fach, Llangedwyn, Powys; Mr Ivaylo Tsvetanov, of Middleton Road, Oswestry, and Mr S Hall, of Chestnut Avenue, Dudleston Heath.

All could have escaped with a £50 fine had they paid it promptly but now they face having to pay almost £800 each.

For the offence each was ordered to pay £780, comprising a fine of £600, £80 compensation, £40 costs and £60 victim surcharge.

Mr Davies told the court that a sixth defendant, a woman from Wrexham, had recently contacted the parking enforcement team and the penalty had been paid to settle the matter relating to her.

In Oswestry some car parks are run by Shropshire Council while others, including the main, central car park, are run by the town council.

Shropshire councillor Peter Cherrington said it was important that people pay the car parking fees, whichever car park they used.

He said: "The charges from car parking are used to pay for the services that the council provides. In the case of Shropshire Council this in turn helps to keep down the cost of the council tax."

He also urged drivers to use the car parks rather than to abandon their cars in the residential streets around the edge of the town, adding: "It is surely far better to pay £2 to park, safely and securely, in a car park, than to leave your car on the side of the road."