Three quarters of unpaid parking fines in Ipswich are never recovered

Why it matters: The figures raise questions about how effectively the council is able to enforce against – and collect fines from – persistent parking offenders, despite issuing record numbers of penalty notices.

The details: Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) issued across Ipswich have risen every year since 2021/22.

• PCNs issued rose from 24,053 in 2021/22 to 39,989 in 2025/26 – an increase of 66%.
• Payments received grew too, from £598,698 to £701,703 over the same period.
• But the average amount recovered per notice issued fell consistently, from £24.89 in 2021/22 to £17.55 in 2025/26, indicating serious challenges with enforcing unpaid fines.
• Between 2022/23 and 2024/25, 9,056 unpaid PCNs were referred to enforcement agents for debt recovery. Of those, only 2,097 (23%) were recovered. The remaining 6,959, or 77%, were not.

On recovery rates, the council said cases can take up to two years to resolve, meaning recent figures may understate the eventual recovery rate for those years. It defines "recovered" as the point at which "the agent has recovered the required funds from the vehicle owner including all fines and fees paid."

What they're saying: The council attributes the falling average payment per PCN to the growing difficulty of tracing vehicle ownership. "It is true that over time it can become more difficult to track down ownership of vehicles, and recover PCN fines, [but] we continue to work with agents and partners to make this process the most effective it can be," it said, adding that it also uses immobilisation and vehicle removal as a further deterrent against persistent evaders, though the data shows this is not a widely used tactic.

Clamping rose from 79 vehicles immobilised in 2022/23 to 183 in 2024/25. However, there is no requirement for those who have had their car clamped or impounded to pay unpaid PCNs before recovering their vehicle.

The council says a standalone assessment of enforcement's impact on the town centre does not exist, but that it monitors activity through "operational data, complaints, officer observations and feedback from businesses, residents and partners."

It points to the town centre bollards project – removable bollards planned for Carr Street, Tower Street, Westgate Street and Queen Street – as a way of preventing contraventions in some areas, freeing up enforcement officers to be deployed elsewhere "to have a higher impact".

Removable bollards to enforce town centre vehicle ban

Ipswich Borough Council is installing removable bollards on Carr Street, Tower Street, Westgate Street and Queen Street to stop drivers ignoring the town centre’s existing daytime vehicle restrictions.

Ipswich.co.ukOliver Rouane-Williams

The bottom line: The council rejects any suggestion that it has relaxed parking enforcement in Ipswich, but its own figures show a rising volume of fines issued alongside a falling amount recovered per fine, due to more than three-quarters of unpaid fines referred to bailiffs never being recovered.

The state of our streets: Ipswich’s biggest small problems

Illegally parked cars, litter, seed husks, bird mess, unexplainable stains, bins left out all day, street drinking – none of these alone is Ipswich’s biggest problem. Collectively, encountered every day – by every visitor on nearly every street in the town centre – they have become just that.

Ipswich.co.ukOliver Rouane-Williams

Don't forget: If you enjoy our content, please add Ipswich.co.uk as a "preferred source" on Google so you can easily find more of the content you value.

This article cost us ~£81 to produce

It's free for you to read thanks to the generous support of our partners. Please support us by supporting them.