Government to review Post Office-style investigations

These are entirely paper-based prosecutions in which a person is accused of a minor crime, such as a car insurance violation, through the mail and is forced to defend himself by letter.

But Alexander said 550,000 of the defendants did not even respond, raising questions about how many people understood the results.

“They’re not defending one way or the other,” he said.

“It goes directly to the criminal court of peace.

“And I think we need to improve the way the single justice procedure works this round.”

Questions about SJP’s assurances have increased this year following a landmark court ruling that up to 74,000 fines should be annulled for rail companies’ wrongful use of the procedure to prosecute people accused of fare evasion.

Alexander said the government would not revoke SJP, but stronger safeguards were needed, including ensuring all cases were justified.