For other fees, please see the links below:
Summary Only Road Traffic Offences
A summary only road traffic offence is an offence that can only be heard in the Magistrates Court. There are exceptions though where the offence could be tried on an indictment before a Judge and jury in the Crown Court. The following information does not apply to any matter that goes before the Crown Court.
Common examples of summary only road traffic offences include:
- Speeding
- Driving without a valid licence
- Driving without insurance
- Careless and inconsiderate driving
- Driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs
- Driving with alcohol concentration above prescribed limited
- Driving with concentration of specified controlled drug above specified limited
- Failing to stop or report an accident
- Failure to give or giving a false name and address
Costs
- Guilty Plea
For a typical summary only road traffic offence, involving a guilty plea and concluded in a single court attendance, we will charge a fixed fee of £1,250 plus VAT. This includes:
- Taking your initial instructions, usually via a telephone consultation
- Review and consideration of prosecution’s evidence
- Advice in relation to the evidence, plea and likely sentence
- Representation at a single hearing at a Magistrates Court within Central London
- Advice in respect of process, options and next steps
The above fee does not include:
- Additional hearings due to adjournments beyond our control
- Interviewing witnesses and drafting witness statements
- Instructing expert witnesses
- Application for ‘exceptional hardship’
- Application for ‘special reasons’
- Representation at trial
- Any work or advice relating to an appeal or appeal process
- Any court fees, third party costs or other charges
Should a guilty plea be adjourned for reasons beyond our control we will charge an additional fee of £500 plus VAT for appearing before court again.
If you require representation at a Magistrates Court outside of Central London, please contact us as different fees may apply.
- Exceptional Hardship or Special Reasons
If you need assistance with either an application for ‘exceptional hardship’ or an application for ‘special reasons’ we will charge a fixed fee of £1,750 plus VAT per application. This includes:
- Taking your initial instructions, usually via a telephone consultation
- Review and consideration of prosecution’s evidence
- Identifying and obtaining any mitigation
- Interviewing witnesses and drafting witness statements
- Review and consideration of any evidence which assists with the application to court for an ‘exceptional hardship’ or ‘special reasons’ argument
- Representation at a single hearing at a Magistrates Court within Central London to put the argument forward
The above fee does not include:
- Additional hearings
- Instructing expert witnesses
- Seeking advice from a barrister should the case require
- Representation at trial
- Any work or advice relating to an appeal or appeal process
- Any court fees, third party costs or other charges
Expert witnesses’ costs must be paid in full by you prior to instructing the expert. We will obtain a quote from the expert and subject to your approval of costs and payment by you in full, we will instruct the expert and request the statement/report be completed for the case.
Any hearing extending beyond one session will incur an additional cost of £500 plus VAT.
If you require representation at a Magistrates Court outside of Central London, please contact us as different fees may apply.
- Not Guilty Pleas and Trials
Not guilty pleas will require our assistance to challenge the case against you at a trial in Court and we charge a minimum fixed fee of £2,500 plus VAT.
This includes representation at your first court appearance where your plea of not guilty will be entered. The court will then try to ascertain the nature of your defence, the number of witnesses on the prosecution’s side and on the defence’s side and estimate how long the trial will last.
The cost of the trial will depend on several factors and the complexity of the case. These factors may include where the trial will be heard, the number of trial days, the number of witnesses on both sides, whether expert witnesses are required, whether you require representation by a barrister. We endeavor to be transparent on costs and will provide you with an estimate once we have understood the issues and agreed with you the strategy going forward.
Disbursements
Disbursements are additional costs in the case which will be recovered from you. These may include the time it takes to travel to a Magistrates Court outside of Central London, travel expenses (fuel/train) to the Magistrates Court, expert report costs, barrister fees and travel costs. This is not an exhaustive list of additional costs but aimed at giving you an idea of what may be included in your circumstances. Mileage is charged at 45p per mile plus VAT. VAT is charged at the standard rate
Representation
You will be represented in court by Ms. Natasha McDermott, Managing Partner, who is a specialist criminal defence solicitor with over 20 years’ experience. Natasha has been a Duty Solicitor since 2001 and a Higher Court Advocate since 2002. Natasha is multi-lingual and is excellent at giving clients confidence and reassurance when dealing with their matters.
Natasha founded Carters Solicitors in 2006 and prior to that, managed a criminal defence team at a nationally recognised criminal defence firm of solicitors. Natasha is regarded as one of the leading solicitors in London for criminal defence.
VAT
VAT is charged at current prevailing rates. This is currently understood to be 20%.