SIR,

So parliament has begun to realise that all is not well with the UK.

Alas, the recent riots, scandals over MP expenses, banking excesses and Fleet Street hackers are merely the tip of a very large iceberg.

Ever since the Bill of Rights declared in 1689, 'fines or forfeitures before conviction are illegal and void', we've had presumption of innocence in English law.

The right to a fair trial is also confirmed in section 6, Human Rights Act, 2000.

But this constraint doesn't appear to worry the Westminster elite, which cheerily permits the DVLA to impose fines for minor defaults, without reference to courts, or indeed evidence of mitigating circumstances.

It is in fact illegal for the DVLA to act as judge, jury and prosecutor in its own cause, but letters on that subject to the minister concerned, or to my MP David Davies, go unanswered.

The European Court of Human Rights, the UK Supreme Court and the Office for Judicial Complaints similarly don't want to know.

When I hear that the persons concerned will face trial for this act of theft and fraud against 40,000 motorists annually, I might begin to believe that we still live in a democracy.

Iain Crawford

(Monmouth)