Hundreds of traffic tickets went unpaid for almost two years in a cottage community north of Toronto, the Toronto Star reported Monday.

Ontario Provincial Police issued the tickets near Parry Sound, a small community that lies on the route to cottage country for thousands of southern Ontario motorists.

An audit last fall by Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General found a backlog of tickets and assorted documentation dating back to January 2002.

Investigators found that officials in Parry Sound did not enter the tickets into a provincial computer system.

As a result, OPP officers found themselves pulling over drivers who kept their licences even after infractions that should have resulted in suspensions.

Other drivers had their licences suspended because the fines they had paid had never been processed.

"It was an ugly mess," OPP Det. Sgt. Jeff Betts told the Star.

Parry Sound's finance director was suspended as a result of the investigation, and another employee working in the court system was fired.

The town hired two people to sort through the backlog, resulting in suspensions and fine notices for hundreds of long-forgotten offences.

The Star report said 500 drivers' licences were suspended on one day alone at the end of November.