Offenders who fail to pay court fines could be named-and-shamed in an effort to collect more than £8 million outstanding in Sussex.

Alex Allan, the civil servant in charge of collecting fines at the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA), said he would consider exposing the identities of non-payers in the local Press.

Mr Allan, permanent secretary at the DCA, admitted that only half of fines were paid within six months of being imposed by the courts and only five per cent of defendants paid their fines on the day.

Government figures reveal that almost £8.6 million remained outstanding in Sussex at the end of the 2004/05 financial year.

It left the county with an 82 per cent collection rate - the 12th lowest in England and Wales.

Appearing before the Commons Public Accounts Committee, Mr Allan told MPs: "I would say we are more successful (at collecting fines) but I wouldn't yet claim we were successful."

Mr Allan admitted the department had written off "quite a large number of fines quite early".

In 2004/5, a total of £222 million of fines was collected and £69 million was waived.

When the cost of administering the cancellations is included, the total sum lost to the department reached £100 million.

But under a new policy, fines were not written off "until it's clear they won't be paid", insisted Mr Allan.

The department had started using new powers introduced under the Courts Act 2003 to ensure "as few people as possible get away without paying".

These included searching defendants in court to see how much money they were carrying and clamping non-payers' cars.

People could also be prosecuted for failing to provide correct information about their identity.

But Mr Allan said adding interest to unpaid fines was not necessarily the best way to secure payment.

About 67 per cent of non-payers are on benefits.

Edward Leigh, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, said: "It's a farce that you are imposing so many fines and not collecting a very large proportion.

"Is it any wonder people have increasingly lost confidence in the way the criminal justice system is being run?"