Part of Criminal Justice and Police Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 10:00 am on 15 February 2001.
Mr David Lock
Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department
10:00,
15 February 2001
I think that I understand the right hon. and learned Gentleman's confusion. The warning notice does not indicate that there is going to be a trial. All it does is to explain to the offender that if he elects to challenge the penalty notice, and wants not to pay up but to go for a trial for a criminal offence in the magistrates court, he has to notify the authorities to that effect. It is his choice, not the police officer's. The warning notice does not mean that there will necessarily be a trial. All that it says is that the court will be reserved in case a notice is contested. That is why subsection (7) is there, and why removing it would be inappropriate.
We do not believe that it is in the interests of justice to dispense with subsection (7). It cannot be right for an alleged offender, who has been served with a warning notice and has said that he wishes to contest a trial, to claim that he did not receive either notice. I hope that the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire, now that he understands the reason for subsection (7) and appreciates how the procedure works, will withdraw the Amendment.
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