asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many fixed penalty notices were issued by traffic wardens in each of the past four years and how many drivers failed to pay the fixed penalty; and how many were prosecuted and how many were convicted in each year.

The number of fixed penalty notices issued by traffic wardens in each of the last four years was as follows:

1976	25,779
1977	42,469
1978	53,340
1979	46,535

Fixed penalty notices are issued by traffic wardens and members of the RUC and records of non-payment and subsequent prosecutions are not maintained separately, so it is impossible to identify the cases where the notice was originally issued by a traffic warden. Records of convictions in cases where fixed penalty notices were issued but not paid are not maintained and the number could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.