Chelian Law Solicitors is a well-established law practice with a reputation for expertise and achievement. We have a specialist team of lawyers who focus on Motoring Offences.

All members of the specialist Motoring Law team have many years’ experience and the skills needed in dealing with all aspects of this complex area of law, providing a comprehensive and high-quality legal service to the general public.

We recognise that everyone’s circumstances are different, therefore, our fees are calculated on a case by case basis depending on complexity and your particular needs. We will always be upfront with you about our costs and usually deal with cases on a fixed fee basis if possible.

Clear and Transparent Fees

In accordance with the Solicitors’ Regulatory Transparency Rules, we are required to ensure that members of the public have transparent, accurate and relevant information about a solicitor or firm when they are considering purchasing certain legal services.

Below we have listed our charges for dealing with the offences that we most commonly encounter. If your matter does not fall into one of these matters, then we will provide you with a bespoke quote.

The level of cost involved will be dependent on the seniority of the solicitor you choose to instruct to represent you in this matter on the basis that time is charged at an hourly rate or whether you agree to instruct the firm on the basis that a fixed fee will be applicable.

Hourly Rates for Motor Offence Cases

If you instruct the solicitor on the basis of an hourly rate, then the chargeable rate is set out below:

Status	Pay Band	Hourly rate
Solicitors and legal executives with over 8 years’ experience	A	£250
Solicitors and legal executives with over 4 years’ experience	B	£225
Other solicitors or legal executives and fee earners of equivalent	C	£200
Trainee solicitors, paralegals and other fee earners	D	£175

Our Fixed Fees

Please note that the applicable fee estimates only relate to cases where the Court at which you are due to appear is within 20 miles distance from our offices. You will be liable to meet the cost of any disbursements incurred by that solicitor travelling to a Court further away to represent you and we will advise you of any additional charges incurred. Typically, this would be at £50 per hour.

You will also be liable to meet the cost of any other disbursements reasonably incurred and agreed with you in advance, in preparing your case for that hearing.

Initial Advice - Free 30 minutes

We provide 30 minutes of initial advice free, if you require advice more than 30 minutes, we charge £50 for additional 30 minutes. This includes: Receiving and reviewing your papers; Consider and advise you either by telephone or in our office. This will include initial advice on possible defences and likely sentence if pleading guilty.

Our fee does not include:

Written representations or advocacy.

Letter of Representations - £500 +vat

We can assist with writing a letter of representations summarising the circumstances of your offence to ensure the court has all of the facts to reach an informed decision. We can also write a letter of representations to the police or prosecuting authority to attempt to persuade against them either issuing or proceeding with your case.

Our fee includes:

Attending to you over the phone/in person; Preparation time; Considering evidence; Providing advice in relation to plea and likely sentence; Written representation including advising on a decision.

Our fee does not include: Attendance at court; Third-party or experts fees; Inquiries of witnesses/third parties

We do not expect to do any work outside the terms of the fixed price quoted, however, if needed, we will notify you if this changes and discuss with you how the additional work may be charged.

Written Guilty Plea - £1000+vat

After the initial advice and where the best option is to plead guilty, we will manage your case to a conclusion by submission of a written guilty plea.

This will additionally include preparing a letter in mitigation and communicating with the court/police on your behalf. This can sometimes give you the best result by minimising the penalty that could be imposed.

Court Appearance: Guilty Plea - £1500 +vat

As above; but to include representing you at court on a guilty plea, [assuming one hearing] this will include meeting you at court and dealing with your case as a priority on the day. Sentence hearing on another day will be charged as additional hearing £1500 + vat.

Our fee includes:

Attending to you over the phone/in person; Preparation time; Considering evidence; Providing advice in relation to plea and likely sentence; Full representation up to and including the hearing; Where appropriate, advice on whether an exceptional hardship or special reasons argument should be made; Representation at single hearing for no more than two hours.

Our fee does not include: Instruction to barrister, any expert witnesses; taking statements/advising or taking instruction from various family memebers and friends; Advice and assistance in relation to a special reasons hearing; Advice or assistance in relation to any appeal; Representation in person at future hearings; Third-party or experts fees; Any Court adjournment to another date, requiring us to reschedule date of attendance; Any further work following the conclusion of your final hearing or appeal; Any fine imposed by the court, surcharge or order for costs made in favour of prosecution.

Court Appearance: Defending Your Licence (Exceptional Hardship and Special Reasons Case) - £2000+vat

If you are facing a driving disqualification or penalty points then in certain circumstances you might be able to argue special reasons to avoid a disqualification or any points.

This will include a conference as required and the preparation of a written submission to the Court to assist your evidence, attending with you on the day at court and presenting your case to the court and any applicable appeal advice.

Our fee includes:

Attending to you over the phone/in person; A full assessment of the evidence including advice on likely sentence/prospects of success; Preparation time; Providing advice in relation to plea and likely sentence; Full representation up to and including the sentencing hearing for no more than three hours; Providing assistance in obtaining character reference evidence and mitigating any penalties that the Court may impose; Written plea and written case management.

Our fee does not include: Instruction to barrister, any expert witnesses or taking statements/advising or taking instruction from various family memebers and friends, Advice or assistance in relation to any appeal; Attendance at more than one hearing; Any Court adjournment to another date; Any work following the conclusion of your final hearing or appeal which would incur additional fees; Any further work following the conclusion of your final hearing or appeal; Any fine imposed by the court, surcharge or order for costs made in favour of the prosecution

Bespoke Fixed Fees

Our specialists are regularly instructed for not guilty plea to challenge cases in trial. Typically, these involve costs of £3,000 plus vat. Excluding the costs of any barrister and expert. In every trial case, you will be provided with a detailed costs estimate depending on the seniority of the solicitor/barrister/professional used (Please see ‘Hourly Rates’ above).

Likely Timescales

For guilty plea cases, this will depend on the court date for the final hearing but could easily be up to three hours. For not guilty pleas the average duration is one hour. Again, each case is individual and will turn on its own merits. We can give you a more accurate indication of this during an initial consultation.

In cases where a guilty plea is submitted and the case is dealt with at a single hearing, the whole case is usually completed within two hours. If it exceeds more than two hours then our hourly rate will apply.

VAT & Disbursements

Our fees and some disbursements are subject to VAT at 20%.

Disbursements are charges payable in addition to our fees, normally to a third party. They can include fees payable to barristers, expert witness, search providers and travel costs. The amount charged for the disbursements depends upon several variables, therefore, we will advise you of the correct charges when we have an initial consultation to ascertain all the facts.

Accreditations