Almost £2.5 million in fines issued by courts in Sussex was not collected, new figures show today.

Earlier this year, The Argus reported only 62 per cent of fines had been gathered in the year ending March 2003.

But only now has the cash value of the unpaid penalties emerged.

A written Parliamentary answer shows only £3,958,078 of the £6,402,558 fines handed down by magistrates was collected.

Offenders escaped with not paying 38 per cent of the total - £2,444,480.

The figures follow warnings by the Commons Public Accounts Committee last year that the payments of fines was "almost voluntary" in many areas.

The Government has already announced that every magistrates' court will be given the power to deduct fines from wages or benefits if the offender refuses to pay up.

Fines will also no longer be written off after 12 months but will be chased until they are paid under the plans set out by the new Department for Constitutional Affairs.

Offenders who fail to provide details of income and expenditure to allow the deductions to take place will be guilty of a fresh offence.

And fines will also be increased if offenders fail to pay up on time, while those who pay earlier could get reductions.

Offenders who are genuinely unable to pay the fine will be made to do unpaid work in the community as an alternative punishment.

The average collection rate in England and Wales was 55 per cent.

A spokesman for Lord Falconer, the Cabinet minister responsible for constitutional affairs, said: "Too many fines are not paid. The authority of the courts must be enforced."