Eastenders - Prison V Fine

[silliemillie]

So Shirley has gone to prison as Mick couldn't pay the fine. They are talking as if it's an alternative but am I right in thinking that you still have to pay the fine even if you go to prison?

Didn't think it was an either / or situation or am I wrong?

[elliemay1]

I think you do have the choice to either pay or go to prison. If you go to prison you don't have to pay the fine...I think!

[EDDIE51]

It's not something where the offender has the choice, but if someone has failed to pay a fine they can be taken back to court and sent to prison instead. The prison time 'pays off' the fine, there is even a table of how many days prison are equal to the fine. So the bigger the fine the more days in jail. This will only be done as a last resort,after measures like an attachment of earnings order has failed to extract payment.
I don't watch Eastenders so I don't know the storyline but the person who goes to jail is the same person who was ordered to pay the fine.
I don't see how Mick could go to jail for a fine imposed on Shirley, but then I don't even know who Mick and Shirley are or what their relationship is.