01278 456 621
Motoring Price Promise
MOTORING PRICE PROMISE
Here at Alletsons Solicitors we have a specialist team of defence lawyers who are available 24 hours a day to provide advice and assistance and representation before the Court for all manner of offences. Our dedicated team take a pro-active approach representing our clients from the start of a criminal investigation up to its conclusion at Court. We can advise you as to whether you have any legal or technical defences or other arguments that may be advanced by you such as a ‘Special reasons’ argument or ‘Exceptional hardship arguments’.
We understand how worrying it can be to face the prospect of losing your driving licence as inevitably this can have a catastrophic impact upon your employment, business and/or personal life.
If you have been charged with or have received a summons to attend Court for any driving offence or road traffic offence, we strongly recommend you speak to our specialist team as this could make the difference between losing or keeping your licence.
Our lawyers include barristers, solicitor advocates, duty solicitors, accredited police station representatives and paralegals. Together we have a vast amount of experience in representing clients charged with motoring offences, including driving or being in charge of a motor vehicle with excess alcohol, driving with drugs, disqualified driving, speeding, failing to provide a specimen, failing to stop/ failing to report, driving with no insurance, careless driving, dangerous driving and using a mobile phone whilst driving.
Our expert team provides a friendly approachable and professional service, we will meticulously prepare your case to ensure we achieve the best possible outcome for you.
For most motoring offences you may be liable to penalty points on your licence or even disqualification. Our lawyers can help you by potentially reducing the number of points or disqualification or avoiding disqualification entirely on grounds of special reasons or exceptional hardship.
Please see below regarding our fixed fees for motoring offences.
Fixed Fee’s for Motoring Offences
In line with the Solicitors Regulatory Transparency rules we are required to ensure that members of the public have accurate and relevant information about a solicitor or firm when they are considering purchasing certain legal services.
We offer fixed-fee representation for driving and motoring offences dealt with at a Magistrates Court. The fixed-fee very much depends upon the type of charge and whether it will progress as a guilty-plea case or a not-guilty plea case where a Trial would be necessary. We offer fixed-fees for advising on and making special reasons and exceptional hardship arguments to the Court.
We undertake some work on an hourly rate basis, if this applies to your case we will give you an estimate of the number of hours’ work likely and the approximate cost. Our defence lawyers charge £201 per hour + VAT.
There may be additional costs which you will be liable for such as disbursements incurred by a solicitor travelling to Court to represent you, and any other disbursements reasonably incurred in the preparation and defence of your case. These can include expert reports if for example there is a technical defence such as post driving alcohol consumption, spiked drinks or if there is alleged to be a defect with the equipment used by the police. Any disbursements will be discussed with you in advance and will be charged to you usually at the end of the case.
Guilty Plea Cases
If you admit the offence you have been charged with and enter a guilty plea then we can represent you by putting forward the best possible plea in mitigation which can have the effect of minimising or reducing the penalty imposed by the Court.
For some offences disqualification is mandatory. For other offences you may be liable to disqualification under the “totting up procedure”. If you accumulate 12 or more penalty points on your licence the Court may disqualify you for a minimum of 6 months.
We charge a fixed-fee of £500 + VAT for a guilty plea motoring offence, where there are no more than 3 offences charged and the hearing takes place at Taunton Magistrates Court or North Somerset Magistrates Court. If you would like us to represent you at any court outside of Somerset, then there will be an additional charge for travel at our hourly rate.
The fee includes; -
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Obtaining your initial instructions over the telephone or in person;
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Two hours attendance/preparation;
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Requesting and considering the evidence in your case;
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Providing advice in relation to plea and likely sentence, including Ancillary Orders;
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Representing you for plea and sentence at one hearing.
* Providing assistance in obtaining evidence and mitigating any penalties that the Court may impose;
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Where appropriate advice on whether an exceptional hardship or special reasons argument should be made;
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Representation at a single Hearing within 20 miles of our office base for no more than half a day;
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Travel time but not car parking or mileage, which will be charged as a disbursement.
Key stages; -
You will have an initial consultation with a solicitor either in person or on the telephone.
We will request and fully consider the prosecution evidence and any other disclosure provided.
We will provide advice to you by phone or in person regarding the strength of the evidence, whether you have any defence, we will explain the Court procedure, so you know what to expect at your Hearing and the sentencing options available to the Court.
We will conduct any further preparatory work, obtaining further instructions from you if necessary and answer any follow up queries you have.
We cannot provide a timescale of when your Hearing will take place, as this depends on the Court listing for that day.
We will attend Court on the day and meet with you before going before the Court. We anticipate being at Court for no more than half a day session. We will discuss the outcome with you and provide you with advice on whether to appeal. Written advice on appeal will carry an additional cost.
What our fee does not include; -
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Instruction of any expert witnesses;
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Taking witness statements from any of your witnesses;
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Advice and assistance in relation to a Special Reasons Hearing;
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Advice and assistance in relation to Exceptional Hardship argument;
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Advice or assistance in relation to any appeal;
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Representation in person for more than one Hearing;
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Disbursements such as car parking, mileage, third party or expert fees;
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Any fine, prosecutions cost order, victim surcharge, or compensation ordered by the Court.
Not-Guilty Plea Cases
If you have already entered a Not guilty plea or we advise you that you have a defence and you should plead Not guilty, your case will usually proceed to a summary trial.
Fixed Fee cost ranges from £1500 + VAT to £3000 + VAT.
The price we quote will very much depend on the type of case, number of charges, pages of prosecution evidence, number of witnesses and length of Trial. If your Trial lasts more than one full day there will be an additional cost of £500 + VAT for each additional day.
Our fixed-fee will include all the above in relation to representation for a guilty-plea but also to meticulously and thoroughly prepare your case and represent you for a Magistrates Court Trial.
Our fee will include; -
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Meeting with you following a full assessment of the evidence;
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Advising you on the strength of the evidence, your plea and the likely prospect of success;
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We will also advise you on the likely sentence if convicted;
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We will spend a minimum of two hours attendance / preparation;
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We will communicate on your behalf with the prosecution and the Court;
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We will prepare your written Trial management form and your proof of evidence including comments on prosecution evidence;
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Representation for plea hearing and Trial Hearing which lasts no more than one day;
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We will advise you whether to obtain suitable character refences and/or medical evidence;
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We will present your mitigation to the Court;
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Where appropriate we will advise on whether an exceptional hardship or special reasons argument should be made;
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Representation for Plea Hearing and representation for Trial Hearing.
What our fee does not include;
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Instruction of any expert witnesses;
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Disbursements;
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Taking statements from your witnesses;
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Advice and representation in relation to a Special Reasons Hearing;
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Advice and representation in relation to Exceptional Hardship argument;
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Advice or representation in relation to any appeal;
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Representation for any further Hearings such as Case Management, Bail or Mention Hearings;
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Any Order for prosecution costs, fines, victim surcharge or compensation made against you by the Court;
Timescales
Summary Court proceedings will usually be issued within six months of the offences dates. However, it can often take up to twelve months to proceed with a Court Hearing.
The length of your case very much depends upon whether you plead guilty or not guilty. In the case of a guilty plea we can expect the case to be concluded usually within three months of the summons being received. For a not guilty plea case where a Trial is listed, this depends very much on the complexities of the case and the length of the Trial. We would expect such a case to be concluded within six months of the issue of the summons.
We do not expect to carry out any work outside of the terms of any fixed price quoted.
We will notify you if there are any additional charges and we will not carry out any work over and above our fixed fee price without your agreement.
There may be additional time required in preparing your case. We will charge at our usual hourly rate for contacting witnesses, third parties and experts. Of course, the number of offences, pages of evidence and number of live witnesses to give evidence for a Trial would increase the cost.
If the prosecution withdraws or discontinue the case against you, you may be entitled to obtain a Defence Cost Order. In the event you are acquitted of the charges you face you may apply to obtain a Defence Cost Order. If granted you will receive a percentage of your costs back.
Special Reasons Hearing
Fixed fee of £500 + VAT.
We have a wealth of experience making special reasons arguments to the Court and have a high success rate. If you accept you are guilty of committing a motoring offence you may be able to avoid disqualification if you successfully argue special reasons for driving.
We may be able to help you prove that you had an unusual circumstance which meant that although you committed the offence you should not be disqualified from driving or receive penalty points. The legal argument must be directly connected with the commission of the offence and one which the Court should take into consideration when imposing punishment. Any circumstance that related to the offender does not amount to a special reason so for example, the consequence of losing ones license would not count as a special reason, it must be directly connected to the commissioning of the offence, Examples of special reasons might include driving someone to hospital in an emergency situation whilst over the alcohol limit, driving to rescue a person from a danger, driving whilst over the limit after your drinks have been spiked or laced. This is a very technical area of law where our lawyers can help you to thoroughly prepare your argument well in advance of the court hearing to ensure you have the best prospect of success.
Please see above guilty plea for key stages, what our fee includes and what it does not include.
The timescale for such a case very much depends on the Court listing of the matter but we would expect a guilty plea of motoring offences to be concluded within three months of the date of summons.
Exceptional Hardship Argument
Fixed Fee of £500 + VAT
We have a vast amount of experience preparing and representing clients making exceptional hardship arguments which have resulted in either no disqualification being imposed or one which is much shorter than the normal minimum period.
If you are liable to disqualification because you have reached 12 or more penalty points on your licence this may be avoided if the Court accepts that exceptional hardship would be caused in the event of disqualification.
There will inevitably be hardship because of disqualification but unless this is exceptional it is unlikely to have an impact. It will be necessary for you to prove exceptional hardship by giving evidence and/or calling witnesses. The impact upon others as a result of you losing your licence may amount to exceptional hardship and if the Court agrees it may not impose a penalty points disqualification. This discretion only applies to totting up disqualifications as a result of penalty points and does not apply to offences which carry mandatory disqualification such as driving with excess alcohol. If you have made an exceptional hardship argument which has been accepted by the Court, you cannot use the same grounds within three years before the date of the conviction which has resulted in the number of penalty points reaching 12 or more. You may however rely on different grounds in order to avoid disqualification for the normal minimum period.
Examples of exceptional hardship include; -
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Loss of employment especially if you rely on your car as part of your job and you have financial dependants who would suffer as a result of your loss of employment;
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Similarly, the impact upon others of your loss of employment, for example if you operate your own business and are unable to continue, this would have a significant impact upon the livelihood of other employees and families.
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Impact on health and safety of others, for example if you worked a role where you might be responsible for health and safety of members of the public.
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Caring for elderly or disabled relatives. For example, where your licence is necessary to provide transport and/or to provide care;
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Other financial impact, such as the loss of your home as a result of repossession or bankruptcy as a result of disqualification.
We strongly recommend that you speak to one of our expert lawyers for a free initial consultation.
Other Motoring Offences
Speeding, guilty plea £400 + VAT / Trial £1500 to £2500 + VAT
Careless driving guilty plea £500 + VAT / Trial £1500 to £2500 + VAT
Offences of using a mobile phone whilst driving £500 + VAT / Trial £1500 to £2500 + VAT
Failure to provide identity of driver £500 + VAT / Trial £1500 to £2500 + VAT
Failure to stop and report an accident £500 + VAT / Trial £1500 to £2500 + VAT
Driving with no insurance £500 + VAT / Trial £1500 to £2500 + VAT
Disqualified driving £500 + VAT / Trial £1500 to £2500 + VAT
Failure to provide a specimen for analysis £500 + VAT / Trial £1500 to £2500 + VAT
We will quote a fixed-fee for your case once we know the full circumstances and that fixed-fee will cover all the costs included in your case from your initial call instructing us to fully preparing the case for a guilty plea Hearing or a Trial.
Appeal to Crown Court against sentence
Fixed-fee at Taunton Crown Court £1000 + VAT
Fixed-fee at Bristol Crown Court £1200 + VAT
If we advise you that you have grounds to appeal against sentence as it was wrong in law or manifestly excessive we will provide you with advice and representation for the appeal process. This will include; -
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Drafting and lodging the Notice of Appeal to the Crown Court;
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Meeting with you and preparing for the Appeal Hearing;
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Attendance at one Crown Court Hearing followed by reporting to you in writing.
This includes an appeal to the Crown Court if the Magistrates Court has rejected your exceptional hardship argument.
If you are successful in your appeal, then the Court may agree to make a defence Cost Order for some of your legal costs. The Court may alter or amend a sentence.
Appeal to Crown Court against conviction
Fixed-fee at Taunton Crown Court £1500 to £2500 + VAT
Fixed-fee at Bristol Crown Court £1700 to £3000 + VAT
The fixed-fee we quote will very much depend on the work necessary in preparing for the appeal against conviction Hearing. As a general rule the costs of an appeal against conviction to the Crown Court will be similar to the Magistrates Court summary trial.
Our work will include; -
* Advising you on the prospect of success of appealing against conviction;
* Drafting and lodging a Notice of Appeal to the Crown Court;
* Meeting with you and preparing for the Appeal Hearing;
* Attendance at one Crown Court Hearing.
The fixed-fee will vary subject to the amount of prosecution evidence, the number of live prosecution witnesses and the number of defence witnesses.
If your appeal is allowed the conviction will be quashed and you may be entitled to recover some of your defence costs. The work for an Appeal against conviction is very similar to that of a summary Trial.
Letter of Mitigation to the Court
Fixed fee £201 + VAT
For some driving offences for which you receive a postal requisition or summons to attend Court, you are able to indicate your plea by post. If you have decided to plead guilty to the offence, then we can assist you in writing a detailed letter of mitigation on your behalf with the goal of achieving the most lenient sentence for the offence. We are experts in presenting mitigation to the Court and are alive to the most relevant issues the Court needs to consider. The law requires the Court to give consideration to what is written in a letter of mitigation before deciding on sentence.
Free initial 20-minute consultation
We offer a free 20-minute consultation with a criminal defence lawyer, so we may consider your case and provide you with initial advice as to how to proceed. We will provide you with an estimate of the costs of your case during this consultation.
Our Defence Team
Anjam Arif – Solicitor/Advocate
Will Rose – Barrister
Natasha Steele – Solicitor
Suzie Jensen – Paralegal / Police Station representative.
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