The Traffic Penalty Tribunal’s Digital Transformation and fully online appeals system has brought about a revolution in the way appeals against parking and traffic penalties are processed.

First launched in 2016 – the latest milestone on a journey of digital transformation for the Tribunal – the online appeals system and associated processes now constitute an everyday service used by tens of thousands of appellants and authorities each year across England (outside London) and Wales.

97% of all appeals submitted to the Tribunal are processed fully online. This has resulted in significant savings for the Tribunal and authorities, both financially and in terms of time.

Such are the long-standing successes of TPT’s approach, it is easy to forget just how at the cutting edge of online justice, dispute resolution and public sector digital service provision the Tribunal still remains.

The Tribunal has spent the last couple of years engaging with the academic and judicial communities to share the story and learnings of its Digital Transformation. This engagement has been exemplified by the increasing sophistication of TPT data and analytics insights (anonymised), which has helped underpin and bring the impact of the online system and its associated improvements to business processes to life.

The result of these efforts has been TPT recognised by the judicial community, globally, as being at the forefront of digital access to justice, as well as being increasingly cited by academia as a pioneering case study in simplified online judicial procedures.

‘I was impressed by your efficiency and fairness, and the effective interaction between the parties.’

– Rt. Hon Lord Carnwath, former Justice of the Supreme Court

Key recognition to date

December 2018:
International Forum on Online Courts

TPT Chief Adjudicator Caroline Sheppard OBE was invited to present on the Tribunal’s Digital Transformation at an event that saw hundreds of academics and legal professionals – including Senior Judges from around the world – meet to discuss leading international examples of court reform. The event was also attended by the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice.

The event’s Joint-Chair and leading legal commentator Richard Susskind said: ‘…the Traffic Penalty Tribunal is a pioneer of online judging, using a form of continuous hearing that is planned to lie at the heart of tribunal work.’

February 2019:
Administrative Justice Council Academic Panel

Judge John Aitken, Social Entitlement Chamber President, discussed the ‘continuous online hearing’ process of the TPT as the ‘holy grail’ of administrative justice reform.

He cited the ‘…quicker and less expensive inquisitorial process that provides better feedback to departments on improving decision-making behaviour,’ and welcomed further evidence to ascertain the feasibility of rolling-out such an online approach to other tribunals.

October 2019:
Professor Christopher Hodges
Delivering Dispute Resolution: A Holistic Review of Models in England and Wales

Professor Hodges discussed the development of the TPT’s online appeals system and cited a number of data points focused on appeals throughput, including swift case closure times.

November 2019:
Richard Susskind
Online Courts and the Future of Justice

Susskind describes the TPT as the ‘longest-standing online public dispute resolution system’ and provides a detailed overview of the online system and associated processes.

November 2019:
Zbynek Loebl
Designing Online Courts: The Future of Justice Is Open to All

Czech academic, Zbyknek Loebl, an expert in online dispute resolution, included screenshots of the online system detailing the user experience of messaging and evidence upload in his latest book. The book also included extensive insight from Caroline Sheppard discussing the functionality and impact of the system.

January 2020:
Presentation of TPT system and key learnings at University of Oxford, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, roundtable on justice delivery

Attendees at the meeting included Sir Ernest Ryder, Senior President of Tribunals; Lord Briggs, Justice of the Supreme Court and former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Thomas, as well as numerous judicial, academic and corporate stakeholders with an interest in dispute resolution.

The work continues!

The Tribunal is continuing to engage with academic and judicial communities on the impact and functionality of the online system, with a number of active projects ongoing with leading UK Universities.

In June 2020, TPT was invited to present the online system, user journeys and procedures to senior members of the Israeli courts administration and academics in the judicial and dispute resolution fields.