Library fines totalling nearly £150,000 have been dished out to University of Warwick (UoW) students over the past five years.

Student paper, The Tab, revealed Russell Group Universities billed students £7,160,113 since 2012/13, according to a Freedom of Information request.

But the figure is believed to be much higher as seven, of the 20 universities, could not provide figures going back 10 years due to internal changes on how the data was recorded.

However, all universities provided data for the last five academic years, which showed students were collectively fined just shy of £2 million.

The University of Birmingham (UoB) fined students the most in the past five years, dishing out £240,850 in fines and late fees, while Warwick sent out bills totalling £148,156.

The UoW website says: "The fine rates need to be fairly balanced in order not to disadvantage any students but at the same time provide some deterrent and act as an incentive for borrowers to return items on time so that stock may be circulated fairly and effectively to all library members."

Total amount fined since 2017/2018:

1. Birmingham - £240,850
2. King's College London - £224,552
3. Durham - £186,587
4. Nottingham - £186,500
5. Edinburgh - £183,381
6. Oxford - £182,638
7. Warwick - £148,156
8. Queen's Belfast - £103,330
9. Cambridge - £101,285
10. Glasgow - £92,991
11. Manchester - £66,240
12. Queen Mary University of London - £60,511
13. York - £50,579
14. Cardiff - £37,908
15. UCL - £34,458
16. Bristol - £28,656
17. Imperial College London - £27,410
18. Exeter - £16,960
19. Liverpool - £15,110
20. Sheffield - £0

The information was either not held, or no response was received, from the University of Southampton, University of Leeds, Newcastle University or LSE.