Motoring offence? You can now enter a plea online

Drivers charged with a minor motoring offence in England and Wales will soon be capable to make a plea on the internet, by means of a desktop, tablet or smartphone, rather of creating a postal plea or a court appearance.

The ‘Make a Plea’ service will be rolled out across from March following a profitable trial in Manchester.

In the course of the trial about 1,200 folks – or a third of applicable defendants – utilised the web site to enter a plea.

It’s all part of a government bid to modernise the legal technique and save cash. It will also lessen the workload of police and courts, allowing them to concentrate on more complicated circumstances.

Sitting on the offence

Minor motoring offences accounted for 500,000 court appearances last year. The higher volumes take up large amounts of court time and can clog up the program.

Typically the offender decides not to appear, choosing as an alternative to plead guilty by post or permit the case to be heard in their absence.

Shailesh Vara, courts minister, says: “Digital technologies gives us an chance to make the justice technique easier, clearer and faster. Portion of this means reducing or removing the unnecessary movement of paper, and folks, about the system.”

Read this: Motoring conviction codes

Pleas please me

So how does the Make a Plea Service work?

If you are charged with a minor motoring offence, such as speeding or driving with out insurance, you can now make a plea on the web.

In other words, you do not have to bother with the paperwork of a postal plea, or seem in court.

The new digital system enables defendants to make their plea from any device, 24-hours-a-day, by way of a secure site – and they still get maximum credit for early guilty pleas.

Defendants can also see their case specifics on the internet and view the evidence before indicating their plea of guilty or not guilty.

Guilt trips

The service has been created with court users, and the Ministry of Justice claims that identifying and concluding guilty plea situations earlier will save time, work and cash for taxpayers, motorists and court staff.

The Make a Plea service will initially apply only to motoring offences but it could eventually be extended to other low-level offences as part of the government’s program to modernise the justice system.

The coalition is investing £160 million in digital technology for courtrooms such as video links, wi-fi and improved IT systems to finish the system’s reliance on paper.

Motoring offence? You can now enter a plea online