​Example Summary Only (Magistrates Court) Motoring Offences

 

Our charges: 

 

Our overall fees vary depending upon how complex your case is and what you would like us to do. For a free quote specifically tailored to your circumstances please contact us. We would be more than happy to discuss your case. 

 

To give you an idea of how we charge however, and to comply the SRA price transparency rules, we have set out below details of our typical charges.

 

Our charges are made up of:

 

1. our fees for the legal work; and

2. ‘disbursements’ - disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to other people, such as fees for bailiffs. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

 

Where VAT is referred to below please note that this will be charged at the applicable rate, which is currently 20%.

 

Our fees

 

Our fees will either be agreed with you as a fixed sum at the start of your case or based on how much time it takes to deal with your case. 

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Hourly rate work

If we charge you based on an hourly rate, please note that our standard hourly rates are £350 plus VAT at 20% for one of our directors.

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Fixed fee work

Ordinarily however, we charge for summary only motoring offences on a fixed fee basis. In terms of fixed fees, we can normally offer fixed fees in simple cases involving the following motoring offences to which you plead guilty to:

 

• drink driving: £3,000 plus VAT at 20%;

• speeding: £3,000 plus VAT at 20%;

• using a mobile phone while driving: £3,000 plus VAT at 20%;

 

Legal aid is not normally available for these types of cases and so clients typically pay these fees themselves. If you are likely to be eligible for legal aid funding we shall guide you accordingly, but we do not provide legal aid services.

 

Our fixed fee includes:

 

• Up to 5 hours of support to you including:

  • Discussing what happened with you;

  • Reviewing the evidence in the case;

  • Giving you advice on the possible outcomes in your case;

  • Giving you advice on how to best mitigate your circumstances;

  • Providing advice in relation to plea and likely sentence.

• Attending and representing you at one hearing at a Magistrates Court local to us. This would be one of our staff members – not by an external barrister, sometimes known as ‘Counsel’.

 

It won’t always be possible to help people in drink driving cases for this fee as some cases are more complicated. For example, this fee does not include additional work which might be needed in more complicated or contested cases such as: 

 

• The cost of instructing an expert witness;

• Taking statements from witnesses;

• Advising on or assisting with a ‘special reasons’ hearing;

• Advising or assisting with any appeal.

 

If you contact us we can you give you a quote for your particular case.

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Other costs to consider

 

The costs set out above do not include: 

 

• any fines or costs you become liable for as a result of the offence committed;

• appeal costs;

• the cost of taking witness statements, which are charged at an additional £X each;

• obtaining expert witness evidence if required.

 

 Key stages of your case

 

The fee above is intended to cover all of the key stages of a summary motoring offence case:

• Meeting with your and finding out what happened;

• Advice on your case;

• Considering initial disclosure and evidence in your case;

• If necessary, taking witness statements (which carry an additional cost of £350 per hour)

• Explaining the procedure and next steps to you;

• Conducting any further preparatory work, obtain further instructions from you if necessary and answer any follow up queries you have;

• Attending Court with you (up to 4 hours);

• Helping you understand the outcome of the case and your options for appeal if appropriate (appeal costs are separate).

 

It would not normally be necessary to undertake other work or incur costs other than those described above. However, we would be very happy to provide you with a more tailored quote for all stages of your particular case once we know about your specific circumstances.

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Disbursements

 

Disbursements are payments that we make to third parties on your behalf. These are separate payments for which you are liable in addition to our costs as described above.

 

Typical disbursements in motoring offence cases are:

 

• Expert reports - estimated cost per report £2,500 plus VAT. 

 

How long will my case take?

 

Generally speaking cases of this nature are not made up of a lot of different stages and are concluded on the day of your Magistrates Court hearing. The Magistrates Court date is normally set by the Police after your arrest or in the Court summons so hopefully you are aware of when your case will be concluded. If we are working together and you are not sure of your Court date please just ask us and we would be very happy to confirm.

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Who will be dealing with my case?

 

Your case will be handled by a trusted member of our experienced team [who are, generally speaking, qualified as a solicitor or as a barrister]. Once we know who will be handling your case for you we will introduce you to them and provide you with full details of their background and qualifications.  Full details of the experience and qualifications of our team are available on our website, including the types of work normally undertaken.   

 

Regardless of who is working on your case the matter will be supervised by one of our directors:

 

Richard Bayliss

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• Solicitor

• Year of qualification 2007

• Criminal defence and motoring law specialist

 

Kelly Blake

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• Solicitor

• Year of qualification 2018

• Criminal defence and motoring law specialist

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