Fixed Fee Driving Offences

Fees for Defence against Motoring Offences

If you have been accused of committing a motoring offence, you may be concerned about how you are going to cover the cost of your defence. We understand that facing a motoring prosecution can be a life-changing experience, which is why we try to make the process as straightforward as possible by clearly laying out what you will be expected to pay and providing transparency.

We have provided some information below to assist you and be transparent on our costs for summary offences in the Magistrates Court. These fall into two types of cases: cases without representation and cases with representation by an advocate at Court. For a no-obligation discussion about the likely fees in connection with your case, please contact us on 0345 872 6666 or fill in our online enquiry form and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

What are the Solicitor Fees for a Motoring Offence?

This estimate is for assistance in relation to summary only motoring offences in the Magistrates’ Court only under Part I of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and s89 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (excess speed offences).

Please note that there will be two elements to the prices as set out below for Magistrates’ Court cases:

• Fees charged by JMW; and
• Fees payable to third parties.

Although we are able to identify the key issues in your case from the outset, we will only have a rough idea of what work and court attendances may be involved in your case once we have an initial discussion.

In order to assist you, we can confirm that when dealing with summary offences in the Magistrates’ Court our services can be summarised through the following two options based on a case where physical attendance is required or is not:

Note: This does not include: Crown Court cases, Court of Appeal or High Court cases.

​​​​​​Fees charged by JMW

• Option 1: cases where physical representation at court is not required - guilty plea cases – our service in these cases involves no attendance by an advocate at Court. Including the advice, preparation and written representations to the Court, our fixed fees start from as little as £600.00 per hour including VAT (at 20%) and range up to £1800.00 per hour including VAT (at 20%).

*Please note the range of fixed fees starting at £600.00 per hour including VAT (at 20%) to £1800.00 per hour including VAT at 20% will be dependent on the lawyer dealing with your case (ranging from £216.00 per hour including VAT at 20% for a Solicitor to £480.00 per hour including VAT at 20% for a Partner/Consultant) and the complexity. Examples of factors that alter the complexity are: type of offence; number of offences on one summons; any previous convictions; evidence required before corresponding with court and whether you have undertaken any legal responses before to the Court before entering a plea. The fixed cost will be made clear to you once we have discussed your case in detail and whether it is to proceed by way of a guilty plea.

• Option 2: cases where physical representation at Court for one hearing is required for a guilty plea or not guilty plea – our service in these cases involves attendance at one court hearing. Including the advice, preparation and physical representation by an advocate at Court whether that be a special reasons hearing, exceptional hardship or trial, our fixed fees start from as little as £1200.00 Including VAT at 20% and range up to £4200.00 Including VAT at 20% per hearing*.

*Please note the range of fixed fees starting at £1200.00 including VAT at 20% to £4200.00 Including VAT at 20% will be dependent on the lawyer dealing with your case (ranging from £216.00 per hour including VAT at 20% for a Solicitor to £480.00 per hour including VAT at 20% for a Partner/Consultant) and the complexity. Examples of factors that alter the complexity are: type of offence; number of offences on one summons; any previous convictions; evidence required before corresponding with court and whether you have undertaken any legal responses before to the Court before entering a plea. The fixed cost will be made clear to you once we have discussed your case in detail and whether it is to proceed by way of a guilty plea.

Additional fees charged by JMW

• Electronic ID Check Individual - £20 plus VAT

Fees payable to third parties (Disbursements)

Please note that the fixed fees for legal representation at Court do not include third party disbursements, which may be required in certain cases. Third party disbursements are expenses that we incur on your behalf and examples include: expert reports, whether that be a forensic scientist, collision investigator, psychologist or psychiatrist (approximately £60.00 including VAT at 20% per hour - £360.00 including VAT at 20% per hour); expert attendance at court (approximately £60.00 including VAT at 20% per hour - £360.00 including VAT at 20% per hour); barrister’s costs (advice or attendance at Court £60.00 including VAT at 20% per hour- £360.00 including VAT at 20% per hour).

Where we anticipate that any disbursements or additional fees may be payable, we will let you know as soon as possible.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Defence Costs Orders

In the event that you are acquitted, or the prosecution decides to discontinue the proceedings, you may be entitled to recover a proportion of your legal costs from the court’s central funds. For this service a fee will be applicable and will cover the drafting, compiling and submission of the Defence Costs Application to the National Taxing Team. The fees for this will be based on two hours’ work at an hourly rate between £432.00 including VAT at 20% - £840.00 including VAT at 20% dependent on the lawyer dealing with your case.  

For further information on costs recovery or for more information on fees in general, take a look at our FAQs page.

Our Commitment to You and Service Information (Work included and Key Stages)

Our priority is to keep you happy and to keep you on the road; to some clients minimising the level of their legal costs is as important as achieving their objective of securing an acquittal or limiting the penalty.

We aim to provide you with a high level of dedicated service and expert input at a reasonable and sensible price. In order to achieve this aim, we GUARANTEE the following:

• Guaranteed supervision of your case by a specialist motoring lawyer; and
• Guaranteed preparation of your case from inception to conclusion without any hidden charges and with a clear outline of our charges at the outset, which can be on an agreed fixed fee basis on the two options above (attendance or no attendance).

The key parts to your case will be before a plea is entered, case management (in the event of a not guilty plea or guilty plea special reasons) and then the trial or sentence date (including special reasons). This will include the below requirements (where applicable on plea).

Please note that our service to you includes the following:

• considering prosecution evidence;
• taking your instructions (on the phone or in-person if location permits);
• providing advice on the plea and likely sentence, options available at court in relation to sentencing or trial issues (including case management information) where a not guilty plea is advised;
• drafting witness statements;
• Drafting instructions to experts (where required);
• explaining the court procedure so that you are aware of what to expect at court;

We will also conduct any further preparatory work required, obtain further instructions from you if necessary and answer any follow-up queries you have. In addition, after the hearing we will discuss with you whether or not you can appeal the conviction and sentence.

Services Excluded

We do not submit the appeal notices or apply to suspend your disqualification or revocation on your behalf. This would incur an additional fee.

Timescales

In relation to timescales for cases to be heard in the Magistrates’ Court this can vary from Police force to Police force and court to court. In addition, due to the current situation with COVID, road traffic offences are taking longer to be listed in the Magistrates’ Court. In light of this we cannot give you a time and date your hearing will be considered. However, we will make enquiries with the court to give an approximate date the matter may be heard. If we are to attend court, the fee will cover the hearing until resolved on that date.

Qualifications and Experience of our team

Our team has in excess of a hundred years’ combined experience and delivers high quality legal work. Some team members have published court cases in the High Court. We also act for insurance companies as their specialist help when it comes to driving offences.  We have provided the information below relating to our qualification and post qualification experience. However, if you require further information then please discuss with us directly.

1. Hojol Uddin  – Partner and Head of Motoring ,  Criminal Defence Solicitor dealing with Motoring Offences since 2008, Qualified Solicitor 2012, Post Qualification Experience 10 Years.
2. Charles Stansfield – Consultant Solicitor In Motoring Offences and Road Transport Law– Qualified Solicitor 1973 – Post Qualification Experience 49 Years
3. Derek Millard-Smith – Partner – Business Crime, Regulation and Motoring Offences – Qualified Solicitor 2003 – Post Qualification Experience 19 years 
4. Sam Healey – Partner- Business Crime, Regulation and Motoring Offences – Qualified Solicitor 2010 – Post Qualification Experience 12 years
5. Patrick Boyers – Solicitor – Business Crime, Regulation and Motoring Offences – Qualified Solicitor 2020 – Post Qualification Experience 2 years.
6. Helen Kelsall – Solicitor – Business Crime, Regulation and Motoring Offences – Qualified Solicitor 2021 – Post Qualification Experience 1 year.

Why Choose JMW?

At JMW, we have decades of experience in motoring defence. All of the specialist lawyers in the team have substantial courtroom ‘know-how’ and are known throughout the courts in England and Wales. Our vast experience enables us to identify the key issues in your case at the very outset and to tailor our advice to you (and anticipate costs) accordingly.