Quite, M'lud

The Lord Chief Justice, who is, apart from The Queen, my judicial boss, thinks that too many out-of-court penalties are being dished out. For what it's worth, I agree with His Lordship.

Policing and adjudicating are very different arts, and it is right to keep them separate as far as possible.

Unfortunately, the relative cheapness of fixed penalties and the like means that there is next to no chance of any restriction on their use.