Costs and Service Information
Summary motoring offences
Summary motoring offences can only be dealt with at the Magistrates Court. Our fees for dealing with these cases can vary, depending on whether a guilty or not guilty plea is entered and the number of hearings involved. Summary motoring offences can include, drink and drug driving, speeding, no insurance, failing to provide driver details, driving without due care and attention, using a mobile phone whilst driving and failure to provide a specimen. The majority of motoring offences are concluded within the first court hearing, which is usually within one month of receiving the postal requisition to attend court. When a not guilty plea is entered, the case will be adjourned for trial which will usually be listed within three months of the first court date.
Why choose us?
Many of our advocates who will represent you at court have over 15 years of experience in delivering high quality work in motoring offences.
We have ten solicitors who may represent you in court, covering the whole of the East Anglian region. Our case workers may also work on your case by helping to prepare the case for court. More information regarding our team, including their qualifications and experience can be found here.
Regardless of who works on your matter, they will be supervised by Rob New, Claire Edgeler, Andrew Spence, or Kemi Rufai.
We are proud to hold Lexcel Accreditation issued by the Law Society which ensures we maintain the highest levels of client care and quality in relation to legal practice management standards.
Our hourly charging rates
Our fixed hourly rates for all fee-earners are detailed as follows;
Solicitors – £250.00 per hour plus VAT
Caseworkers – £195.00 per hour plus VAT
We will provide an estimate as to how many hours work is required to conduct and prepare for your case based on our experience of previous similar cases. VAT is charged at 20%.
Our range of fixed fees
We also offer fixed fees to deal your case as follows;
- For a guilty plea summary offence such as drink driving our fixed fee is £500 Plus VAT. This assumes the case is dealt with in one hearing.
- For a guilty plea speeding offence where the case does not fall under the Court’s totting up procedure our fixed fee is also £500 plus VAT.
- For advice on appeal in the magistrates court our fixed fee is £150 plus VAT. To conduct an appeal our fixed rate is typically £1,000 plus VAT, however, our prices are case specific.
- For an exceptional hardship argument/special reason hearing our fixed fee is £850 plus VAT.
- For a trial in relation to a summary motor offence, to include preparation leading up to and including the trial, our prices are £1,200 plus VAT for a half day hearing and £1,800 plus VAT for a full day hearing.
Please call our head-office on 01603 616000 to discuss our fees further with a member of our team who will be happy to assist with your enquiry or email us at breydons@breydonssolicitors.co.uk.
What does the fixed fee include?
Based on the presumption that you have entered a guilty plea and have a date for your hearing;
- All telephone calls, letters and emails
- Attendance upon you at our offices or other agreed location to take your instructions
- Considering evidence
- Advice in respect of the strength of the case
- Providing advice on plea and likely sentence
- Representation at court on the day your case is listed
The fixed fee does not include:
Based on the presumption that you have entered a guilty plea and have a date for your hearing;
- Instruction of any expert witnesses. The price of an expert would be dependent on the case and quoted directly by the expert instructed
- Taking statements from any witnesses. This would incur an additional cost of £150 plus VAT per witness
- Advice or assistance in relation to any appeal charged at £150 plus VAT
- Advice and assistance in relation to a special reasons hearing/exceptional hardship argument charged at £850 plus VAT
- Travel expenses such as mileage. We charge mileage at 45 pence per mile which is subject to VAT at 20%
Time scales
The majority of summary motoring offences are dealt with to conclusion at the first hearing, which is usually within one month of the date of receipt of the postal requisition or the date of charge.
Where a guilty plea is entered the case is often concluded at the first hearing. However, this can be adjourned usually for no more than a month to six weeks if a special reasons or exceptional hardship argument is to be heard, or where a pre-sentence report is ordered, which may require a separate listing.
Where a not guilty plea is entered the case will be adjourned for a trial to take place which is usually within three months.
Key stages of 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. The usual procedure is as follows;
- 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 in accordance to our hourly rates).
- 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 will anticipate being at court approximately 45 minutes before your hearing.
- We will discuss the outcome with you. If advice is required on appeal, this will carry an additional cost as stated above.
Our Motoring Law Specialists:
Our following advocates have vast experience in motoring law and are part of Breydons motoring law team;
- Rob New
- Rob Pollington
- Arthur Balls
- Richard Mann
- James Landles
- Claire Edgeler
- Andrew Spence
- Alistair Taunton
- Kemi Rufai
To view their profiles, please follow the link to our meet the team page.
