Motoring and Road Traffic Offences
Being accused of a motoring offence can have serious consequences. Penalty points, substantial fines or disqualification from driving can affect your employment, business and family life.
Our experienced Criminal Defence team provides clear and practical legal advice and representation across a wide range of motoring and road traffic offences. We will consider the evidence, explain the options available to you and advise on the most appropriate way to deal with your case.
Can I Defend a Motoring Charge?
Receiving a Notice of Intended Prosecution, Fixed Penalty Notice or being charged with a motoring offence does not necessarily mean that the allegation cannot be challenged.
Depending upon the circumstances, there may be issues concerning the evidence, the identification of the driver, the operation or reliability of equipment, compliance with statutory requirements or the procedures followed by the police.
We will carefully consider the circumstances of your case and the available evidence before advising you whether there are grounds upon which the allegation can properly be challenged.
If you accept the offence or are convicted, we can also advise and represent you in relation to mitigation and sentence.
Motoring Offences We Deal With
Our team can advise and represent clients in relation to a wide range of road traffic matters, including:
- Speeding offences
- Drink driving
- Drug driving
- Dangerous driving
- Careless driving
- Driving without insurance
- Driving whilst disqualified
- Driving without a valid licence
- Failure to provide driver information
- Failure to stop or report an accident
- Mobile telephone offences
- Penalty points and “totting up”
- New driver revocation issues
- Applications and representations concerning disqualification
- Serious and fatal road traffic offences
Exceptional Hardship
If you accumulate 12 or more penalty points within the relevant three-year period, you may face disqualification under the “totting up” provisions.
In appropriate circumstances, it may be possible to argue that disqualification would cause exceptional hardship.
Exceptional hardship must amount to more than the ordinary inconvenience or difficulty that would be expected to result from losing a driving licence. The Court will consider the individual circumstances of each case.
Relevant factors may include the effect of disqualification on other people, such as family members who depend upon you, employees whose livelihoods may be affected or individuals for whom you provide essential care or transport.
We can advise you on whether an exceptional hardship argument may be available and prepare and present your case before the Court.
Special Reasons
In certain circumstances, there may be special reasons relating to the commission of an offence which the Court can take into account when deciding whether to impose penalty points or a disqualification.
Special reasons are distinct from ordinary mitigation and will depend upon the particular facts surrounding the offence.
Our team can advise you on whether a special reasons argument may properly arise in your case and the evidence required to support it.
Our Approach
We recognise that your driving licence may be essential to your work, business and family responsibilities and that the consequences of a conviction or disqualification can extend well beyond the immediate penalty imposed by the Court.
Our team will carefully review the evidence against you, identify any relevant legal or evidential issues and explain your options in clear and straightforward terms.
Where there are proper grounds to contest an allegation, we can represent you in defending the proceedings. Where an offence is admitted or a conviction cannot be avoided, we will present appropriate mitigation and seek to minimise the consequences wherever possible.
Clear and Transparent Fees
We will explain our fees at the outset and, where possible, provide a clear estimate or fixed fee for the work required.
If the nature or complexity of your case changes, we will discuss any additional work and costs with you before proceeding.
Language Assistance
Members of our team are able to provide language assistance in Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu, helping clients understand the allegations against them, the advice they receive and the court process.
Contact Our Criminal Defence Team
If you require advice or representation in relation to a motoring or road traffic offence, contact our experienced Criminal Defence team for a confidential discussion about how we can assist.
Waqqas Malik: wm@mvlegal.co.uk
Telephone: 020 8597 5097