NO-ONE gets away with parking fines - even if it takes the authorities 19 years to get round to it.

Parking fines allegedly issued to an Advertiser company car on March 10, 1989 and February 28, 1996 have only now been chased up by Swindon Magistrates' Court.

And, according to firm's records, the car was not registered to the Adver at the time the first fine was issued.

"The thing that crosses your mind is what are we paying them for if they take so long to get the fines?" said Dinah Hunt, the Adver's financial controller. "It's certainly not efficient."

The fixed penalty notices total £48 - £18 for the first offence and £30 for the second.

The letter, which threatened the bailiffs in 14 days' time and even arrest if the fine was not paid, was received on Monday.

"I was not surprisingly quite incensed that 12 years later they said cough up," said Ms Hunt.

"If we're chased for fines we pay up straight away so it seems very strange that all this correspondence is coming to us now.

"This ability to chase people whenever they like means you could have fines hanging over your head for decades."

The car in question, a Nissan Micra, was only registered with the firm from June 30, 1995 and was sold on more than five years ago.

When Ms Hunt contacted the central accounts office at Swindon Magistrates' Court, she was told that the records had been transferred from another department and it was not able to access any of them currently.

"She was quite defensive, though I think they deal with more incensed people than me," said Ms Hunt.

She added that the timescale made it very difficult to deny the claim. However, the Adver plans to pursue the matter further with the courts office.

Normally when a parking notice for an infringement is issued to an Adver company car it is the individual driver's responsibility to pay.

Failure to pay will lead to a notice being sent to the company, for which the policy is to pay up without delay.