What are our fees for driving and road traffic offences?
All rates detailed will attract additional VAT at the present rate of 20%.
We ensure that the funding of your case is cost-efficient and transparent. We understand that the costs of your case will be important to you and that you receive a meaningful indication of how much you will need to pay. We will always endeavour to agree on costs in advance of any case once we have had an opportunity to assess the issues and the level of work and assistance required.
We will take time to agree on the costs with you by gaining an understanding of you, your case and the work involved. There may be other costs that you would need to pay over and above our fees and we aim to provide information of those in addition. Our aim is to enable you to have a good understanding of what it may cost you overall.
You may also have the benefit of other sources of funding such as legal expenses insurance or funding through a trade union or other representative. Please do not hesitate to contact us to explore your options.
We believe in operating an open and transparent pricing structure. To this end, we do not charge excessive fees, nor are we the cheapest option, but we will work with you to achieve the best result possible in the circumstances of your case.
Who provides the service?
This work is carried out by the following members of our Team:
Nick Titchener, Stephen Halloran, Mass Trebar, Andy Hobdell, Paul Dillon, Dawn McKnight, Jo Cestaro, Kajel Doshi.
All motor offences work is supervised by Mr Nick Titchener who is a solicitor and Director.
Examples of Summary only motoring cases which are those that can only be dealt with in the magistrate’s court
In accordance with the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s Transparency Rules we are required to ensure that members of the public have accurate and relevant information when they are considering purchasing certain legal services.
The services specified in the regulations which are applicable to the areas of law undertaken by this firm relate to the provision of advice and representation at the Magistrates’ Court in relation to summary only road traffic offences dealt with at a single hearing. A summary only offence is an offence which can only be dealt with at a Magistrates Court.
The most common examples of offences are: drink or drug driving cases, failing to provide a specimen of breath/blood, driving with no insurance, without due care/ careless driving, excess speed, driving with no licence, failing to stop for the police or to report an accident, driving whilst disqualified and driving whilst using a mobile phone.
Examples of the types of motoring work we can do by fixed fee
Advance meeting pre-court proceedings for advice on a fixed fee basis i.e. advice on speeding/totting / completion and return of documents to the police, or advice before a Police Station attendance for interview.
Fixed fees meetings will be calculated on the basis of an assessment of time and seniority of the fee earner or Solicitor that is meeting with you. The hourly rate of a Senior Solicitor or Partner will vary between £250 plus VAT to £300 plus VAT.
In certain circumstance a more Junior Solicitor or Fee Earner will be assigned, their hourly rates will vary between £145 plus VAT to £225 plus VAT.
Time associated with a fixed fee meeting would be based on a maximum of two hours work being required, which may be a balance of pre-meeting preparation and involve the reading of case materials and the attendance with you.
Making Written Submissions or mitigation on your behalf
In some circumstances we can work to try and persuade the police/CPS against commencing court proceedings where possible. We will draft your mitigation for you and can make written submissions.
Representation at court is not included in this process and would incur additional costs. In order to do written submissions, we will meet with you to take your instructions. Subject to the evidence that is available at this stage, we would review the case evidence before making written submission in mitigation in the hope that it may persuade the court not to impose a ban where the law permits.
The costs associated with doing this tends to range from £1,000 plus VAT and £1,500 plus VAT for up to 6 hours work covered.
When more is known about the case we will advise more definitively on costs. On rare occasions, where the work involved may be more substantial or involved or required further meeting then our fees may exceed this range but that would be made known to you before they are incurred.
The costs associated with this Service would typically include some or all of the following:
- Reading evidence
- Attending/preparation virtually or in person on one occasion as agreed or necessary
- Instructions from you and us advising you on your plea at court
- Advice on likely sentence
- The drafting written submissions for you
If further meetings or calls or submission are required these would not be covered within this fixed fee and would be charged separately on the basis of time and seniority of the Solicitor or Fee Earner unless a further fixed fee is agreed. This fixed fee would also not include the instruction of experts or their costs or those of third parties or disbursements.
Where we appear in court for a Plea to be entered, for sentencing, for exceptional hardship hearings (one hearing), Trial preparation and meet outside of the one attendance those costs are not covered by this fee.
Representation at court for a plea to be entered and, if applicable, case management and case progression will be a fixed fee for one attendance at a cost ranging from £1,000 plus VAT to £1,500 plus VAT depending on the case and location and seniority of Solicitor or Advocate.
Preparation for trial and conduct of the trial will be typically be in the region of £2,500 and £5,000 plus VAT depending on the case and location and seniority of Solicitor or Advocate. Preparation and conduct of the trial would include some or all of the following depending on the case:
- Reading evidence
- Attending/preparation virtually or in person as agreed or necessary
- Advice on likely sentence
- Attendance and representation at the Magistrates Court on one occasion as agreed
- Advising you on your plea at court and credit
- Advising you on the strength and weaknesses of your case
- Advising you on available defences, and the likely prospect of success at trial if pursued
- Advice on likely sentence
- Advice on court costs on a guilty plea and following a trial
Sentencing hearings, other than those not covered either at the first plea hearing or immediately following the conclusion of a trial would be a fixed fee between £1,000 plus VAT and £1,500 plus VAT depending on the case complexities and location and seniority of Solicitor or Advocate.Exceptional Hardship Hearings would involve a minimum of one attendance with you and preparation and court hearings and would involve a fixed fee ranging from £1,500 plus VAT to £3,000 plus VAT depending on the case complexities and location and seniority of Solicitor or Advocate.
What is not included in any fee quoted
Not included in any fixed fees is the price of any expert (including interpreters) if one is necessary. This may include a forensic scientist, for example, as an alcohol expert. If this was required, we will discuss the possible fees in advance and make you aware of them before the expert is instructed and those costs incurred. It is not possible to accurately advise on expert fees until we know the nature and skill of the expert required as the expert would provide their costs to us when details of the case and what is required is known by them.
Additional hearings
If we have to attend additional hearings to adjourn your case or if the case is adjourned once we attend court, then each further hearing or trial will be incurred and depending on location will typically range between £1,000 plus VAT to £1,500 plus VAT and again this fee includes representation by an experienced advocate.
If you require a specific advocate outside of our firm, then this could attract higher costs depending on their costs. Sometimes after a case is adjourned, we may be required to do more work than estimated as more evidence is served, or you may require more work on your defence and in such cases we will estimate for this work. This can affect the fees above. You may sometimes require us to make or oppose additional legal argument hearings for you. We will quote for these as they arise. This cost will depend on complexity.
Factors That Can Affect the Fixed Fee
We always endeavour to ensure that our fees do not exceed those particularised above. If you instruct us at late notice close to a hearing or in connection with multiple allegations or the court dealing with your case is at a distant location, then there will be an increase to the fees quoted above.
Having many witness enquiries or obtaining expert reports will complicate the case. We will always agree with you in advance. If the case becomes more complex because more documents need to be considered, then this will complicate the case.
Typical timeframes – how long will the process take?
In cases where a case is dealt with at a single hearing the whole case is usually completed within six months from the date of the offence. However, each case is different and we cannot provide a precise timescale of how long each key stage will take or when hearings will take place, as this depends on many factors such as the complexity of the matter and court listings. We should be able to give you a more accurate idea of timescale when we’ve more details about your case.
The key stages of your matter are based on the presumption that you have entered a guilty plea and have a date for your hearing.
- Meet with your solicitor to provide instructions on what happened
- We will consider initial disclosure, and any other evidence and provide advice
- Arranging to take any witness statements if necessary (this will have an additional cost of £200 per hour plus VAT)
- We will explain the court procedure to you so you know what to expect on the day of your hearing, and the sentencing options available to the court
- We will conduct any further preparatory work, obtain 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 half a day
- We will discuss the outcome with you. If advice is required on appeal, this will carry an additional cost.
Our team has well over 100 years of collective experience in delivering high quality work in all matters relating to Motoring Offences. The team has expertise in all types of Motoring Offences, up to and including those involving death.
