Offenders in Kent owe a whopping £19 million in unpaid court fines, it's been revealed.

The amount outstanding is the total owed for fines imposed in magistrates' and crown courts across the county, including compensation, costs, victim surcharges and unpaid fixed penalty notices.

It is rolled over from previous years, and includes those fines where not all the instalments have been paid.

The total outstanding is nearly £19.5m. In the months between April and December last year alone, a total of £8.4m of fines were handed out in the county, but just £2.4m of that was collected.

But John Fassenfelt, chairman of the National Magistrates Associations, said not enough was being done to collect outstanding fines.

He called for a reintroduction of fines-only courts, where offenders who don't pay are brought before magistrates and ordered to settle their debts - or face jail.

He said it was not well known that around half of all court or police fines went unpaid, and he wanted to put the fear back into non-payment.

Mr Fassenfelt said "I think that we have got to make individual defaulters more afraid. It's not just a blase thing.

"They've got to pay these fines and somehow we've got to make them more aware of that."

A statement from the courts said: "HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), takes the issue of fine enforcement very seriously and they are working to ensure clamping down on fine defaulters is a continued priority nationwide.

"HMCTS has in place a strategy to increase the success of compliance with financial penalties which focuses on ensuring as many offenders as possible pay their fines in full at the earliest opportunity. "

Offenders who don't pay up are chased, the statement claims, and it can result in deductions from the offender’s benefits or earnings, clamping of vehicles and even, ultimately jail for non-payment.