Digital service launched for minor motoring offence pleas

A new digital service has been launched, enabling people charged with minor motoring offences to make a plea online at a time and place of their choosing.

A rollout of the new Make a Plea service across England and Wales is now underway, following a successful pilot in Greater Manchester.

People charged with summary motoring offences – those heard in magistrates’ courts, such as speeding, failing to identify the driver or using a vehicle without insurance – will be able to respond to charges against them via a user-friendly website.

Some of the highest volume work that the police, prosecution and courts deal with involves low level traffic offences, with the latest annual statistics showing that proceedings were taken in relation to more than half a million summary motoring offences.

The new digital system means defendants will be able to make their plea from any suitable device 24 hours a day through the secure website and is being offered as an alternative to a postal plea or attending court.

During the pilot in Manchester nearly a third of people used the digital service to make a plea.