Ipswich Borough Council has had a successful start to its campaign to deal with car owners who have repeatedly failed to pay fines by clamping them.

The council began a new policy on May 25 to crack down on parking ticket evaders in and around the town.

Under the new policy motorists who have persistently avoided paying penalty charge notices (PCNs) will have their cars clamped by the council until they pay the fees owed.

If they fail to pay the clamp fee and the PCN the situation will be escalated and the cars will be removed to a pound where drivers will have to pay to have their cars released.

The new policy only affects those that the council have deemed to be "persistent evaders". This means that the vehicles have received three or more PCNs which all remain unpaid or unchallenged by the driver.

In the two weeks since the policy began, 20 motorists in Ipswich have had their vehicles clamped by the council because they had outstanding unpaid penalty charge notices (PCN).

Of these, two have had their car removed to a pound due to a failure to pay the clamp fee and the PCN that had been issued to them.

"It has become an issue," said Sarah Barber, Ipswich Borough Council portfolio holder for the town centre.

"Most people park considerately and most people pay within time.

"This is for those few people that persistently evade paying their parking tickets.

"It's annoying for everyone else."

Ms Barber said there was an issue with chasing up some people that refused to pay their parking charges and that provided false addresses or no address with authorities like the DVLA.

She said the changes to the parking policy had been a real benefit for the council’s parking enforcement team.

"It was frustrating for them as well," said Ms Barber.

"A huge thank you to our parking enforcement team."

She said that she hoped people would take notice of the new powers and park more considerately.

"We are hoping that people get the message," said Ms Barber.

"It's about being a considerate member of the community.

“I am really pleased we have been able to do this.”