Thought you’d got away with that long-ago fine? Think again. Unpaid parking tickets are being chased up by officials who have already clawed back £9m

• The Ministry of Justice is taking advantage of new technology to chase old debts
• ‘Historic Debt project’ has already clawed back around £9 million for taxpayer
• Many people have complained they are innocent but have no means of proving it

Tens of thousands of people have been hit with fines up to a decade old for long-forgotten offences such as unpaid parking tickets – after Ministers launched a hunt to track them down.

The Ministry of Justice is taking advantage of new technology, using databases held by other government departments and online tracing tools, even locating people who have moved homes.

Around £9 million has already been clawed back for the taxpayer.

But the campaign has left many people bewildered about receiving the fines after such a long time. Some have complained they are innocent of the offence but are unable to prove it now that so many years have passed.

Others, believing the letters to be a scam, have ignored them and been hit with further charges from bailiffs and threats of court action.

The letters do not state what the original offence was – recipients are only able to find out by contacting a magistrates court. A Freedom of Information request by The Mail on Sunday revealed that the Historic Debt project was set up in September last year with an annual budget of £3 million and 153 full-time staff.

Mark Thornton, 46, of Kilburn, North London, told the Mail on Sunday how, out of the blue, he received an official letter demanding £183. He said: ‘It didn’t actually say what the fine was for but eventually we were told it was for an untaxed vehicle. My wife and I were living in Switzerland in 2010, when it was supposed to have occurred.