VIENNA (Reuters) - An Austrian woman has begun a 500-day jail sentence for ignoring parking tickets and failing to pay a cumulative fine of around 24,000 euros ($30,860), police said Tuesday.

They said the 38-year-old civil servant from the southern city of Graz was jailed after ignoring 700 attempts by local authorities to notify her of the fines over a 2-year period.

"Of course we have had people ignore three, four, five or even 10 reminders, but 700 ... that is unheard of," said police official Herbert Mattersdorfer.

A police spokesman said that under Austrian law, the woman could only spend 42 days at a time in jail for this offence, so her term would be split into several stints behind bars.

(Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Nick Vinocur)