In this series of blog posts, we’ve been looking at how to avoid being disqualified from driving. In part one , we mentioned the obvious point that you can fight read more...
This is the second part in our series on “how to avoid a driving ban”. In part one , we skimmed over various ways of avoiding a driving ban from read more...
Maybe you’ve found this post because it’s late at night, you can’t sleep and you want something incredibly dull to send you to sleep… but, more likely you’re facing a read more...
One of the most surprising things I’ve discovered since I started working exclusively in criminal motoring law is that there is a small, but not insignificant, number of suicidal people read more...
About a month ago, I was driving along a main road when a van pulled out in front of my car. Although I stopped before hitting the van, the driver read more...
JS was referred to us by a criminal defence barrister who wanted his friend properly looked after during his court case. Fun fact: a lot of our work comes in read more...
MN approached us having been charged with being drunk in charge and failing to name the driver at the time an offence was alleged to have been committed. A member read more...
We were instructed to represent JJ who had been accused of permitting the use of his lorries by uninsured drivers. Prosecution case The prosecution case was that JJ was operating read more...
We were contacted by Mr B who had been accused of drink driving . He had provided a breath alcohol reading showing that he had 64 microgrammes of alcohol in read more...
Our client was accused of speeding . He was seen by a police officer travelling at 85mph on a 50mph road. He already had 9 penalty points on his licence read more...
Driving while disqualified is a criminal offence in England and Wales that is defined by section 103 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 . The Act makes it illegal for read more...
We all know that drink driving is a crime and has been for a very long time, but it is only within the past decade that drug driving has been read more...
One question we are asked a lot is whether it is worth spending money on an expert report in a drink driving case . One recent client explained that he read more...
Presumably you’ve typed this question into Google and found this page because you’ve been accused of a criminal offence… maybe you’ve just got a really guilty consciousness and are expecting read more...
If you’ve been accused of a crime you might be wondering whether to find a legal aid solicitor (the NHS option) or go private (the er… private option). Is there read more...
Earlier this year, we were instructed to represent OM who had been accused of drink driving. OM’s case was unusual in that he had been told by police they were read more...
How many times have you received a speeding ticket and just paid it? Have you ever challenged the allegation? It’s often worth looking twice at the evidence the police produce read more...
OM contacted us after being charged with drink driving . He explained that he had been arrested some months before and was given a notice informing him that no further read more...
Our client, DK, came to use accused of four speeding offences. He already had nine penalty points for other speeding offences meaning that if convicted of all the new offences, read more...
I want to talk about drink driving – like I talk about anything else – today. A newspaper story caught my eye about a lady who appeared at Bromley Magistrates’ read more...
The drink driving limit in England and Wales is 35 micrograms (μg) per 100 millilitres (ml) of breath, 80 milligrams (mg) per 100ml of blood, and 107mg per 100ml of read more...
· Courts can allow you to take a drink driving awareness course that will reduce your driving ban by up to 25%. · If you don’t accept the course at read more...
Lots of people are, understandably, terrified at the prospect of having to attend a court hearing as a defendant. Nobody wants to stand in the dock, being judged (literally by read more...
One thing many of our clients worry about is whether they will have to pay compensation for damage caused by them. The starting point is that a criminal court CAN read more...
Analysis by a defence expert has once again identified failings in the work of one of the laboratories used by police forces to analyse blood specimens taken in drug driving read more...
Ascertaining the truth of what happened and what is said by witnesses is a key part of a criminal trial where the events are disputed. Disputes can be about what read more...
Criminal cases can be tried either in the Crown Court or in the magistrates’ courts. Most driving offences, including drink driving, drug driving, speeding, etc., can only be tried in read more...
To be guilty of drink driving , you must have been over the drink driving limit at the time you drove thus if you can show that you consumed the read more...
The approach we take to saving your driving licence depends on your circumstances. The first approach is to fight a trial and win – we explain how we approach that read more...
This is part 3 of our special reasons explainer series. Part 1 explains special reason are a way of avoiding a driving ban that follows a conviction for drink driving read more...
A recurring theme among defendants and witnesses since I first set foot in a courtroom in 1995 is worry that they will be prosecuted for perverting the course of justice read more...
It’s well known that experienced drivers can accumulate twelve penalty points on their driving record at which point they are disqualified from driving as a “ totter ”. Most people read more...
If you are convicted of drink driving or failing to provide a specimen for analysis , the court may as you if you want to take the drink driving rehabilitation course. read more...
With Christmas nearly upon us the UK’s consumption of tiny boozy chocolates is about to skyrocket. One question I have been asked a few times over the years by friends read more...
If you watch enough police shows on TV you can be forgiven for thinking that scientific evidence – which includes often very sophisticated speed detection equipment used on British roads read more...
To secure a conviction for drink driving, the police must show evidence that you were over the drink driving limit when you drove. To do this they require you to read more...
Do drink driving laws, and road traffic laws generally, apply to e-scooters is a question we are asked regularly. The short answer is: “yes, the rules apply”. The long answer read more...
Detective Superintendent Andy Cox inadvertently sparked a mini debate on Twitter about whether somebody driving at excessively high speed can be guilty of dangerous driving when he tweeted: We don’t read more...
Following any major road traffic incident there will be people calling for tougher sentences and prison to be imposed on everyone from speeders up. Many people are surprised to find read more...
Drink driving law can be quite technical at times and rarely more so when you find yourself arguing over whether a place is a road or not. It’s actually quite read more...
One of the biggest problems for our clients are those who instruct us that they want to plead not guilty or advance a special reason but who have made comments read more...
CT had been stopped by police driving her car away from her home in the early hours of the morning. Police suspected she was under the influence of alcohol and read more...
Driving while under the influence of drink or drugs has been a criminal offence for several decades but in March 2015, section 5A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 came read more...
A few years ago, a client claimed to have beaten the evidential breath test machine (EBM) some years before by sucking a penny. It’s an old urban legend that the read more...
A question we are regularly asked is whether acid reflux can provide a defence in drink driving cases. The simple answer is “no”; the more complicated answer continues, “but it read more...
If you’ve been charged with drink driving – or drug driving – then you should have heard the statutory warning just before you blew into the evidential breath machine (EBM) read more...
Drink spiking (or lacing as lawyers call it) is the Schrödinger’s Cat of motoring law. On the one hand, we all know that it happens and that the police and read more...
Background We were instructed to represent JMM, a first-year university student, who had been arrested for drink driving after a night out with friends. Police spotted JMM’s people-filled car driving read more...
One of the most oft overlooked elements in motoring law is the law itself – that’s not to say that courts and lawyers don’t worry about the fundamentals of offences read more...
There is a common belief among solicitors, barristers and even some judges that if you get behind the wheel of a car while you are over the drink driving limit read more...
Special reasons are a concept that applies in cases where a defendant is facing an obligatory driving disqualification – that is to say a ban that the court must impose read more...
Opinion evidence is not generally admissible as evidence at trial. Expert evidence is a form of opinion evidence that is excluded from the general rule where it meets all the read more...
There are strict rules governing the admissibility of expert evidence. In this case, the prosecution obtain forensic evidence that did not comply with those rules and were forced to drop read more...
A common complaint we hear is that the police officer who arrested our client had no reason for stopping them in the first place. So, what powers do the police read more...
It’s pretty obvious what we mean by a road, isn’t it? When we talk about a road in everyday conversation we might use the word to mean a street, a read more...