More than a MILLION motorists are being chased by bounty hunters over unpaid parking fines Figures were released showing that 1,132,776 motorists have parking debts Innocent drivers may be hounded for debts they do not know they have Bailiffs are being employed to chase motorists that have not paid They use number plate recognition cameras to hunt for cars with debts attached to them More than a million motorists are being chased by bounty hunters over unpaid parking fines that are registered to their cars. Motoring groups have suggested that innocent drivers are being hounded for debts they did not know they had. The ministry of Justice released figures showing that 1,132,776 motorists had been registered as having debts at the Traffic Enforcement Centre in Northampton last year. Court: Some motorists with unpaid parking fines are being chased by 'bounty hunters' after their case was referred to the court They face bailiff's fees and having their credit ratings affected by the unpaid fines. Critics said that "bounty hunters" are now roaming the streets using number plate recognition cameras to find cars with unpaid fines registered against them, reported The Daily Telegraph. They add that in some cases, the motorist may not even be aware that they have a fine, as they may have bought a car with an unpaid ticket. This comes after it was revealed councils pocketed £340million from soaring penalty charges last year. If a case is registered at the Traffic Enforcement Centre it will automatically increase by 50 per cent, plus, the motorist will then face soaring bailiff fees. Barrie Segal, who runs the AppealNow website told the Telegraph: 'It's a bit like the wild west, but there are no good guys out there to look after motorists. I have had cases where motorists have appealed and the council has claimed never to have received it and gone to the enforcement centre. More than 10 per cent of motoring fines are now given to bailiffs, amounting to a huge sum of money. A spokesman from the AA added: "This new system of civil enforcement was supposed to be an innovation, and it largely was, but it had to show it had teeth by not allowing drivers to renege on tickets they received. Unfair: Motoring groups have criticised the system, saying that it allows bailiffs to pursue innocent drivers But treating fines as a debt allows the debt recovery process to run out of control and hound often innocent drivers who get very scared by the threats that bailiffs make. If you are patrolling the streets with a camera equipped essentially to lasso a car it amounts to being a bounty hunter. It is sinister. Of the £1.3billion revenue raised by all councils from all parking charges in 2011-12, about £565million is pure profit. That is a rise of 10.5 per cent on the previous year, and is set to increase to £635million by 2013, Government figures show. In the past 12 months total fine income has risen by £24million - an increase of about 7 per cent. Fines are increased when referred to the Traffic Enforcement Centre, which is part of Northampton Crown Court The £340million income from fines represents a quarter of councils" earnings from parking. They are coming under suspicion for allegedly using parking income as a "stealth tax" to subsidise other services - a practice that is illegal. Experts at the RAC Foundation have said that the system needs to be redesigned, as the number of cases reaching the courts is indicative of its failure. Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: "The numbers illustrate what a house of horrors the parking system has become and why it is time for a redesign. How have we descended to a situation where more than a million people have been pursued through the courts over a parking infringement? The industrial scale of this process reveals not its success but its utter failure. "People who might already have difficulty in settling initial penalties are hardly likely to be able to pay a bill which has been added to by extortionate bailiffs" charges. We should be encouraging compliance through simple procedures, reasonable charges and better use of technology. But, The British Parking Association believes bailiffs are necessary to ensure drivers pay their fines. A spokesman said: "At the end of the day it is about individuals who have received tickets and haven't paid them. They have received a number of reminders and appeals and have reached the point where they still haven't paid it. The only method of enforcing it is to register the fine at a court and instruct the bailiff to gather the debt. Over the last year, we have been actively engaged with the Ministry of Justice to work towards providing more protection against aggressive bailiffs and encourage more flexibility in bailiff collections. It is essential that parking management is undertaken fairly, reasonably and responsibly and this includes the work of the bailiff when collecting unpaid parking tickets. Bailiffs undertake an important role in ensuring that penalty charges incurred by motorists who fail to comply with traffic and parking rules are properly enforced and collected.