Average British citizens are reportedly being fined thousands of pounds by closed-door courts — sometimes without even being notified — over alleged failures to pay fines for breaking the COVID-19 lockdowns.

In order to deal with the massive number of offenders who supposedly broke lockdown restrictions over the past two years, a special mechanism known as a Single Justice Procedure (SJP) is being used to adjudicate cases of people failing to pay their fixed penalty notice for lockdown breaches.

The system was initially set in place six years ago to deal with minor offences such as the non-payment of TV licences or rail tickets, but amid approximately 100,000 lockdown fines being issued the backroom courts were tasked with judging the non-payment of lockdown fines, the Daily Mail reported.

In many instances, individuals were not even notified that legal proceedings were being held against them, with the courts merely consisting of one or a group of magistrates who decide upon cases via a closed video link with a clerk.

Some of those who have been prosecuted by the closed courts have been fined up to £13,000 for alleged failures to pay lockdown fines. Magistrates in London have issued over £1 million in fines since the beginning of the lockdowns.

Civil liberties advocates have criticised the use of closed courts to decide on lockdown fines, given people have been essentially prohibited from providing a defence for themselves.

During a parliamentary inquiry into the use of such courts last year, the chairwoman of the Magistrates Association, Beverly Higgs, said that there were significant concerns over their transparency given that the system “works with a single magistrate sitting with a legal adviser outside a court room, without the defendant or prosecutor present.”

A builder named Derek told the British tabloid that he was initially fined for not wearing a mask on a bus during the third national lockdown in March of last year. He was fined £200 for this supposed offence.

“I wore a mask for half the journey, but had it round my neck because I was having trouble breathing due to sinus problems,” he explained.

After not paying the fine, his case was dealt with by a Single Justice Procedure at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, which, without informing him of the proceedings, issued him with a total fine of £1,520.

“They never told me to come to court. The first I knew was when I got a letter saying that I had been fined £1,400, plus legal costs, at a hearing I never had a chance of going to,” Derek said.

“I was so shocked I rang the court and asked if I was going to prison. I think if I had attended a proper hearing, I’d have been able to argue that I have a sinus issue and would have been cleared.”

The builder said that while he worked through the pandemic, it will still be difficult for him to pay such a hefty fine, saying that it would be “hard to pay for food, bills, and travelling to work”.

On top of the immediate financial impact of the closed-door courts issuing such fines, should individuals fail to pay the courts they could wind up with offences being visible on future background checks, potentially damaging their job prospects.

In February, a bipartisan group of more than 40 Members of Parliament (MPs) signed a letter organised by civil liberties group Big Brother Watch to the government, demanding an urgent review of every fine issued for violations of lockdowns.

The group of MPs said that “substantial evidence that thousands of people have been wrongfully fined and even prosecuted unlawfully under coronavirus-related legislation.”

Big Brother Watch has claimed that as many as 25,000 fines were issued unlawfully by police during the lockdowns.

Meanwhile, this week, 20 members of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government were fined for breaking the very lockdowns they imposed on the rest of the nation, with a slew of booze-laden bashes in the PM’s official residence at Number 10 Downing Street taking place during the pandemic.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka