£5m pilot project to test late-night courts

American-style weekend and late-night courts will be set up in two British cities in a pilot project costing £5.4m, ministers said yesterday.

The courts are designed to bring swifter justice, especially to drunken yobs who blight city centres at weekends, and are due to begin next year.

London and Manchester will stage the six-month pilots which, if successful, could be extended across the country.

Michael Wills, a minister in the Lord Chancellor's Department, said exact details of when courts would be open were still to be decided. "The Government plans to use pilot studies to find the most cost-effective means of extending court hours. The aim is to test whether extended hours would have an impact on delays, deter local criminals, improve access to justice and help reassure local communities."

Late-night and weekend courts in crime hotspots were suggested by a government paper in February.