Motoring offenders to plead guilty or not guilty online

Drivers charged with minor motoring offences will be able to plead guilty or not guilty online via a new Government service.

The Make A Plea service will cover England and Wales and allow pleas to be issued for offences such as speeding or driving without insurance.

The national roll-out follows a succesful pilot in Manchester and forms part of the Government's plans to modernise the courts. It's hoped that the new system will help speed up proceedings as courts currently deal with around 500,000 minor motoring offences a year.

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The new digital system means defendants will be able to make their plea from laptops, tablets or smartphones 24-hours a day through a secure website.

The service is offered as an alternative to a postal plea or attending court and has been developed with court users. Courts minister Shailesh Vara said: "Digital technology gives us an opportunity to make the justice system simpler, clearer and faster - and part of this means reducing or removing the unnecessary movement of paper, and people, around the system.

"The new Make a Plea service is reducing case time and costs for the courts and the police, ensuring that they can focus on the most complex cases. It makes it easy, simple and quick for people to access justice.

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"Wider modernisation of the courts has included investing £160 million in digital technology for courtrooms including video links, wifi and improved IT systems to end the system's reliance on paper."

The move to make pleas online has been backed by motoring groups although AA president Edmund King said he hopes the plan doesn't backfire. He said: "We welcome the use of technology but we make a plea to the 500,000 drivers using mobile phones at the wheel not to 'make their plea' from the wheel of the car or they could end up making another plea."

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RAC spokesman Simon Williams added: "Our courts deal with a large number of minor motoring offences each year, so it makes absolute sense that in the 21st century we use secure web technology to relieve some of the pressure."

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