Do you have any unpaid traffic fines that you hope have been forgotten about? Well be prepared for a shock. From the 19 July the tax collectors the Monte dei Paschi di Siena, who collect the outstanding taxes for the city and province of Rome, have introduced a fiscal clamping system which will be applied to offending vehicles. The owner of the vehicle will receive a letter in which they will be given 20 days to provide proof that they have paid the fine. The fines vary from 150 to 15,000.

If the offending motorist ignores the letter and does not pay his or her debt, the vehicle may not be used on the road. Anyone caught driving a vehicle which has been officially blocked will have to pay a fine of 656.25 and the vehicle will be confiscated.

Letters have already been sent out to 6,644 offenders, 3,805 of them in Rome asking for a total of almost 5 million.