THE owner of a VW polo which clocked up 94 parking fines for illegally parking in every City of York Council car park has come forward to claim the car.

The offending vehicle was the first to be clamped under a new council policy to crack down on persistent parking offenders.

It was released yesterday after a £30 parking fine, £75 towing fine and storage charges had been paid.

The unpaid fines amounted to about £5,300 in one of the worst cases reported by the council. The penalty charges could have escalated to more than £8,400 if ignored.

A council spokesman said: "It is likely, now that we know who the car belongs to, that we will be pursuing the fees from the unpaid fines through the civil courts."

Updated: 09:21 Saturday, November 27, 2004