AGI Criminal Solicitors offers representation and specialist advice on a variety of motoring offences. We believe that it is important to receive correct and practical advice that can help our clients, as this could potentially have an effect on the outcome.
AGI Criminal Solicitors deal with the following motoring offences:
+Drink Driving – Driving with Excess Alcohol
“Driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle on a road or other public place after consuming so much alcohol that the proportion of it in a person’s breath exceeds the prescribed limit“.The Penalty for drink driving is a 12 month disqualification and an unlimited fineIn order for the CPS to convict you of drink driving, they must be able to prove that the proportion of alcohol in your body exceeded the following limits:
- 35 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath
- 80 mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood
- 107 mg of alcohol in 100ml of urine
The fact that you are over the prescribed limit, does not mean that you will be convicted at court. The police have to follow certain procedures when a sample is taken.If you have been charged with an offence of drink driving then contact us and we will be able to advise and represent you. We can review the evidence against you and provide you with our advice on the prospects of success in your individual case.Once you have received our advice, you can make an informed decision on whether you want to defend the allegation or not.
+Failure To Provide a Specimen of Breath
If you are suspected of a drink driving offence you can be required to provide a specimen of breath – or, failing that, a blood or urine specimen.
You can be required to provide a specimen regardless of whether or not you were arrested. You can also be required to provide a specimen even if you were arrested unlawfully.
If you’re convicted of failure to provide, you’ll face a fine and points on your license – a ban from driving or a custodial sentence are also possibilities.
CAN I DEFEND THE CHARGE?
Yes, you can, If you have a ‘reasonable excuse’ for failing to provide a specimen to the police, you may be able to avoid conviction for failure to provide a specimen of breath for suspected drink driving.
The following circumstances may amount to a reasonable excuse which could be used as a defence against failure to provide a sample.
- You were not driving or had no intention of driving at all. In this case, the prosecution would have to prove that the police reasonably believed you were about to drive.
- The breath analysis machine was not working properly. The presumption is that the machines are working properly, so legal advice and possibly an expert’s report are important if this is excuse is to be argued as a defence.
- A police officer has been too hasty in recording a refusal to provide a sample. If you initially refused to provide a sample, but changed your mind seconds or minutes later, you may have a defence. This is surprisingly common. In a case like this, a court is likely to say that there was no refusal.
- Your refused to provide a sample of blood on health grounds, or because of a fear of needles. While these reasons may be used as a defence, they should be raised at the police station, so that officers have an opportunity to arrange alternative tests. You will need to provide evidence of your health condition to support your defence.
- You insisted on reading the consent form provided by the police before giving a sample. You will probably have a reasonable excuse for failing to provide a sample.
- You are physically unable to provide a breath sample. This can be hard to establish, since the machines are very easy to blow into and don’t require a huge amount of air. Because of this, having asthma or even having only one lung is usually not enough to establish a defence. However, if you are actively having an asthma attack while genuinely trying to produce a sample, you might have a reasonable excuse.
- The police refuse to arrange telephone contact with a solicitor before a sample is taken. This is an argument that has been before the courts many times, and it is therefore complicated. If the solicitor is not immediately available, the suspect can be required to provide a sample anyway. Legal advice should always be taken if you are taken to court in these circumstances.
+Driving Without Insurance
Driving without insurance is an absolute offence what that means is that if you drive without insurance there is no excuse, you are guilty. In the law there is no defence. For example, saying ‘I didn’t know I had no insurance, the insurance company cancelled without telling me’ is not acceptable. However even with an absolute offence there can be ways to defend or mitigate the offence. But it is always for the defendant to to prove their defence.
It’s illegal to drive a vehicle on a road or in a public place without at least third-party insurance.
Even if the vehicle itself is insured, if you’re not correctly insured to drive it you could be considered to be driving without insurance and could get penalised.
You also need to check your insurance covers you for the correct use. If you’re using your vehicle for business purposes this won’t automatically be covered.
Not all insurance policies renew automatically so always check the details of your policy and when it ends.
Penalties for driving without insurance
You could receive a fixed penalty and six penalty points on your licence if you are caught driving a vehicle that you are not insured to drive.
If the case goes to court you could get an unlimited fine and be disqualified from driving.
+Failing to stop
Section 170(2) RTA 1988 provides that the driver of the motor vehicle must stop and, if required to do so by any person having reasonable grounds for so requiring, give his name and address, the name and address of the owner of the vehicle and the identification marks of the vehicle. The duty to stop means to stop sufficiently long enough to exchange the particulars.
Section 170(3) places an obligation on the driver, if he does not give his name and address under subsection (2) above, to report the accident to a police constable or police station as soon as reasonably practicable and in any case within 24 hours..
When the evidence reveals a failure to comply with both subsections (2) and (3), proceedings could be brought for both offences. The failure to stop is usually viewed as the more serious of the two.
A person who fails to comply with subsection (2) or (3) above is guilty of an offence punishable with a maximum sentence of six months’ imprisonment.
Sentencing for this offence can include the following:
- Between 5 and 10 penalty points on your licence;
- A disqualification from driving;
- A community service order; or
- A prison sentence of up to 6 months
Do I have Defence?
Yes, possibly if you genuinely did not believe that you had to stop or you were not involved in an accident then this could provide you with a defence, contact us for advice and representation and we will be able to talk through your options.
+Driving Without Due Care and Attention
Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 a driver is guilty of driving without due care and attention and the persons driving must fall below what would be expected of a careful and competent driver.
Sentencing for this offence can include the following;
- Between 3 and 9 penalty points on your license
- Disqualification from driving
- An unlimited fine
Do I have a Defence?
Yes, the defences for driving without care and attention are as follows.
- Your standard of driving was not considered careless
- Circumstances outside of your control resulted in you driving in careless manner
- You were not the driver at the time the offence was committed
The CPS are required to prove without reasonable doubt that your standard of driving fell below what would be expected of competent and careful driver.
+Careless Driving
Careless Driving is an offence under Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. A person commits this offence is they drive a mechanically propelled vehicle on a road or other public place without care and attention or without reasonable consideration for others.
Sentencing for this offence can include the following.
- An unlimited fine
- Between 3 to 9 points
- Disqualification
Do I have a defence?
Yes, the defences available to you are as follows.
- Your standard of driving was not considered to be careless
- You were not the driver
- Circumstances outside of your control resulted in your driving carelessly
+Using a Mobile Phone Whilst Driving
Using a mobile phone whilst driving is an offence under Regulation 110 road vehicles (construction and use) Regulations 1986. A person is guilty of this offence if they use a handheld mobile phone whilst driving.
Sentencing for this offence
- 6 points on your license
- £200 ticket
- £1000 at Court
Do I have a defence?
Yes, there is only one defence available for this offence.
Under Regulation 110(5) no offence is committed where a person uses a hand held mobile phone to call emergency services in a genuine emergency where it is unsafe or impractical for the driver to cease driving whilst the call is made.
Fees
We will always be transparent with our costs from the outset and want to ensure that we provide the very best service at the most competitive rates and if you are not eligible for legal aid, we can offer a range of private rate packages to suit you from Hourly Rates to Fixed Fees. We appreciate that every person and every case is different, and we will work with you to understand your needs and expectations.
1 HOURLY RATE
This service will allow you decide on choosing the level of solicitor (Ranging from a solicitor with over 30 years’ experience to a solicitor with 2 years’ experience) that you would like to represent you. Your chosen solicitor will have the requisite experience in the type of case that you have instructed this firm on and will attend all court hearings or other appointments and will be your single point of contact within the firm. You will be assured by the fact that you will always deal with the same individual. The hourly rate service ensures that you only pay for what service you receive and nothing more. We will provide you with a quotation before any work starts and you will receive regular statements setting out work done and costs to date. Fees for cases can range between £500 to £5000 excluding disbursements such as experts’ reports, travel, and mileage.
2 FIXED FEE
Some of our clients prefer to pay a Fixed Fee and for that reason that we offer a fixed fee service, meaning that you will know price you have been quoted is the price you will pay. This will offer you certainty from the outset. We can also offer a fixed fee for stages in a case or for the entirety of a case and will discuss these options with you. Fees for cases can range between £500 to £5000 excluding disbursements such as experts’ reports, travel and mileage.
All of our fees attract VAT at 20% and all disbursements will attract fees at 20%.
Private client charging rates per hour
Please note that our private fees (whether Fixed Fees or Hourly Rates) do not include any disbursement (payments to third parties) such as barrister’s fees, expert’s fees or court fees.
| Solicitor’s and FILEx Level of Experience | Hourly Rate (excl. VAT) |
| 10 Years plus | 250 (£) |
| 5-10 Years | 225 (£) |
| 0-5 Years | 195 (£) |
| Trainees and Paralegals | 175 (£) |
| Travel to Court or Prison…etc. | 650p per mile or the cost of train fare |
| Fixed Fees are agreed by negotiations, please ask us if you prefer a Fixed Fee. | |
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, which can be discussed)
- 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 [e.g. half a day].
- We will discuss the outcome with you. If advice is required on appeal, this will carry an additional cost.
Where we have agreed an hourly rate, this will include
- Considering evidence
- Providing advice in relation to plea and likely sentence
- Where you cannot anticipate the likely sentence, advice on the options available to the court in relation to sentencing
- Where appropriate, advice on whether an exceptional hardship, or special reasons argument should be made
- Representation at a single hearing
Legal aid
We can advise you as to whether legal aid is available, whether it is suitable for your case and whether we are prepared to undertake your case on a publicly funded basis.
There are limits to what legal aid will cover, for example, legal aid is not available during the criminal investigation stage save for the actual attendance at an interview under caution. It does not cover crucial areas such as preparation for the interview or work undertaken following the interview. This is arguably the most important stage of a case.
In some cases, it may not be economically viable for us to conduct your case on a legally aided basis.
Recovering your costs:
Where we successfully defend your case at court we will seek to recover your costs by way of a defendant cost order. A defendant cost order should be awarded unless there are clear reasons for not doing so. Once the court has made a defendant costs order, your file will then need to be submitted to the National Taxation Team who will decide what proportion of your costs will be refunded to you.
