FINE dodgers in Worcestershire are being warned: "Pay up now or we'll clamp your car."

As part of the national Operation Payback 3 campaign, launched on Saturday, courts in the West Mercia force area, which includes Worcester Magistrates Court, will send offenders a "pay your fine or pay the price" letter.

Those who don't pay face the fine being deducted from their wages or certain benefits, while persistent defaulters could have their cars clamped. In extreme cases, people could be arrested and imprisoned.

Judith Cashmore-James, area director for West Mercia, said: "Despite major progress, one in five people nationally still don't pay their fine. They let themselves down, their families, friends, colleagues and the community generally.

"They are the people we will pursue relentlessly during this blitz.

"In West Mercia, our magistrates court staff and our enforcement staff are gearing up to make Operation Payback 3 a success.

"We now have access to valuable information on the Police National Computer and the customer information Service at the Department for Work and Pensions.

"Access to existing databases means it will be much easier to find offenders who are hiding so I urge people who have failed to obey the court's ruling to come forward before we knock on your door."

The first two Operation Payback campaigns, one in March 2004 and the other in November 2004, netted nearly £2.5m and resulted in a significant increase in fine defaulters coming forward for months afterwards.

In the financial year April 2004 to August 2005, £7.4m in penalties, including confiscation orders, was outstanding in West Mercia.

The Government currently has a target to collect 81 per cent of court imposed fines. The collection rate for the West Mercia area is 91 per cent.