§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to reclassify most motoring offences as contraventions punishable by fixed penalties rather than as crimes, as recommended by the Justices Clerks Society.
§ Mr. MayhewWe are naturally anxious to consider means of reducing the pressures on the courts. The Government, as indicated in the foreword to the report of the inter-departmental working party on road traffic law, have already accepted the principle of extending the fixed penalty system to a wider range of motoring offences. We are giving careful consideration to the proposals which the Justices Clerks Society has made.