Library fines totalling over £185,000 have been dished out to University of Nottingham (UoN) 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.

Equally stringent fines were issued by King's College London (£224,552), Durham (£186,587), Nottingham (£186,500), Edinburgh (£183,381) and Oxford (£182,638).

A spokesperson for UoN defended the university's position saying "any collected fines are reinvested into hardship funds for students."

Borrowed books are automatically renewed unless they are requested by someone else, so fines are only incurred when a book is overdue - and requested by another student.

"The Students' Union has approved the approach we are taking. But we are always looking at ways to improve our services and would be happy to undertake further consultation with our students around this," the spokesperson added.

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.