Motoring Offences Fees

The Service

Advising and representing you on Summary only motoring offences under Part I of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and s89 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.

As part of this service we will:

·         Provide you with a dedicated and experienced solicitor to work on your matter with a team supporting the service

·         2 hours attendance/ preparation to include:

·         Meeting with you for you to provide instructions on what has happened.

·         We will consider initial disclosure, and any other evidence and provide advice.

·         Taking your instructions

·         Explaining the Court Procedure so you know what to expect on the day of your hearing, and the sentencing options available to the Court.

·         Conduct any further preparatory work, obtain further instructions from you, if necessary and answer any follow up queries you have.

·         Meet with you before going into the Courtroom.

·         Attendance and representation at a single hearing at the Magistrates Court. We anticipate being at Court for half a day.

·         Discuss the outcome with you. If advice is required on appeal, this will be outside the scope of the service noted above and fee noted below.

The key stages of your matter are based on the presumption that you have entered a guilty plea and already have a date for your hearing.

We cannot provide a timescale of when your hearing will take place, as this depends on the Court listing for that day.

What is the Fixed/[estimated] fee?

Our price for the Service noted above will be between £400 and £800 plus VAT. Factors affecting the price within this range will include the location of the Court (we would charge more if the Court hearing is not at the Court nearest to the office where the solicitor is based), the amount of evidence, whether there are any disputed facts which will need to be challenged at the hearing, whether there are any personal references which need to be obtained to support the mitigation being put forward, whether we have any other cases at the same Court on the same day and whether we are at Court longer than 3 hours for your hearing.

All figures exclude VAT, unless where specifically stated.  Where VAT is chargeable it will be at the prevailing rate of tax currently 20%.

In other instances, where for example, no plea has been entered, where a not guilty plea has been entered and the case is listed for a trial or where there is some other hearing which will involve the preparation and presentation of technical arguments (often involving the giving of live oral evidence), then the following charges will apply.

Our price for the service is calculated based on the time spent on dealing with your matter.

Our hourly rate is between £200 and £250 plus VAT for our solicitors, Jonathan Driver with over 35 years’ experience as a solicitor practising in criminal defence and Jane Hiatt with over 20 years’ experience as a solicitor practising in criminal defence and £150 plus VAT for our litigation support team, including Victoria Risk who has more than 15 years of experience assisting our criminal team as a paralegal.   On average, we expect to spend approximately 5 to 20 hours on each case. You should note that your fee will reflect the time spent on the service, so where we spend more time on your matter, your costs will reflect the time spent to provide the service to you. We will advise you as your matter progresses if there is likely to be a deviation from the initial fee estimate provided to you. For the avoidance of doubt, we will always provide you with a fee estimate following our initial consultation, by which time we will be able to give you a much better idea of how much work is likely to be involved in your case.

Information on Fixed Fee

The following does not form part of the service referred to in the fixed fee cases noted above:

·         Instructions to any expert witnesses

·         Taking statements from any witnesses

·         Advice and assistance in relation to a special reasons hearing

·         Advice or assistance in relation to any appeal

If additional work, as set out above, is required on your case, you should note that your fee for the additional services will reflect the time spent, so where we spend more time on your matter to obtain expert witness statements, advising you on an appeal etc, your costs will reflect the additional time spent.

Likely disbursements (these are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties. We handle the payment of the disbursement on your behalf to ensure a smoother process)

·         Counsel’s fees estimated between £250 to £750 per day (depending on experience of the barrister) (excluding preparation) if a barrister is required.

·         If we are attending interviews or hearings with you outside of our offices, our travel/ mileage costs depending on the location of the meeting or the Court hearing your case.

Potential Additional Costs

We always provide clients with fee information at the start of each new matter, therefore if you would like a bespoke fee estimate for your particular case, please contact us to discuss.

If your case involves unexpected complications, we will always inform you, including any additional fees that may apply, so that you can make an informed decision as to how to proceed.