FINE dodgers across Dorset and Hampshire are being targeted during a month-long campaign by court service enforcement officers and the police.

Operation Crackdown will see raids at offenders’ homes to collect unpaid fines and bailiffs issuing warrants to confiscate property. Those who refuse to co-operate will be arrested and could end up in court.

Simon Townley, Her Majesty’s Court Service area director, said: “Our message to fine dodgers is clear; pay up now or face the consequences. The courts will do everything within their powers to trace those who do not pay. Ultimately an offender can be imprisoned.”

More than 500 attachment of earnings orders and 6,526 deduction from benefits orders were issued in Dorset in the 12 months until September 2010.