The Dutch are not paying their fines, with the numbers appearing in court doubling to 200,000 last year compared with 2012.

The largest percentage of non-payers are fined for driving without insurance, the AD says, based on figures from the traffic service RDW. Stricter checks were introduced by the RDW in 2011.

Most offenders do not respond to reminders, warning letters or bailiffs, the AD says. These are the people ordered to court in the hope that the threat of a few days in prison will make them pay the fine.

However, judges say that most non-payers appearing before them cannot pay because they are in debt and do not have the money.

In Amsterdam, imprisoning non-payers is systematically rejected, unless it can be proved the offender can pay, the paper says.