Our Charges

Pricing Structure

All prices are exclusive of VAT, which will be charged at the standard rate:

Lifetime Membership Options

Paid lifetime memberships include 1 initial phone advice, a 10% discount on all fees (expert fees excluded), weekly speed camera updates and representation on any road traffic personal injury claims (conditions apply and further information can be found by following the following link: www.motordefenceteam.co.uk/services/membership/membership-benefits.htm).

Fixed Fee Services

Tailor Made Service

We accept Solo, Switch, Maestro, Delta, Electron, JCB, Visa, Mastercard and Pin Train. We also accept cheques but only act on cleared funds.

You can choose to pay either fixed fees or an hourly rate of £165 + VAT for all work done. We try to advise you of all costs in advance, allowing you to budget. All fixed fees can be paid immediately. For all fixed fees up to £250 payment must be made immediately. For fixed fees between £251 and £500 you can choose to spread the cost over 2 months. For fees of £501 and above you can choose to spread the cost over 3 months. However, all fees other than refresher fees must be paid before trial.

We aim to provide complete transparency in our charging structure. However, to enable us to provide fixed fees we need your co-operation and there are certain circumstances where additional fees must apply. Unlike most solicitors the fixed fee covers everything - including travel. All prices are exclusive of VAT, which will be charged at the standard rate. We seek to ensure that one price pays for everything as much as possible. We keep our costs reasonable because we are efficient, specialist and we ask you to do some of the non-legal work.

Where acting on an hourly rate we are entitled to money on account and to bill monthly for work done. Such bills are payable within 28 days.

1. WHAT DO YOU GET FOR YOUR MONEY?

Step 1 - Initial telephone advice - You get 20 minutes of a lawyer's time on the phone. While rigid guides cannot be set, this would normally work out to about 10 minutes obtaining all relevant information, 5 minutes discussing the various options with you and 5 minutes giving specific advice and ascertaining what you want to do.

Your 20 minutes starts as soon as you are connected to your lawyer. There are certain bits of information they will need and they will take you through this. Please be guided by them, as it enables maximum use of the time allowed and avoids running into an overcharge period.

If you call and we cannot put you through to a lawyer immediately then the call handler will take your information and arrange for someone to call you back. The call will be returned.

Step 2 - Identity/accuracy challenge - We send out a questionnaire to you. Once this has been returned we will write to the prosecuting authority on your behalf raising challenges to the proposed prosecution. Upon their reply we will advise you of their response and, if they intend to proceed, advise you on your options at that stage.

Step 3 - Advice on plea – Once a summons has been issued we will obtain as much information as possible with regard to the offence, including sending questionnaires to witnesses, and then advise you based upon this. You will be advised whether to plead guilty or not guilty. If an expert needs to be instructed further charges apply.

Step 4 - Trial (not guilty plea, trial on the facts or special reasons) - We send out a questionnaire to you. Once this has been returned we will correspond with relevant parties (usually the Court and the prosecution) with regard to the prosecution. We would normally write to the Court and prosecuting authority to make personal attendance at preliminary hearings unnecessary. Should you wish us to arrange personal attendance at such a hearing we can do so but there is an additional fee.

We co-ordinate with the prosecution and Court to set the trial date and arrange for any necessary witnesses we are aware of to attend if they need to. We arrange personal attendance at the trial by a qualified barrister. If an application needs to be made, either at your request or because you have failed to deal with matters, to move the hearing date then this work is additional and a further fee arises (please see below). Should you be convicted you receive personal representation at the sentencing hearing (see Step 5 below) included within the price. You will also be advised on whether you have an appeal against conviction.

Step 5 - Sentencing – Should you plead guilty to the offence you can choose to either have us arrange personal representation or provide written submissions. We send out a questionnaire to you. Once this has been returned we either prepare written representations to the Court upon your behalf or arrange for a barrister to attend Court, usually with you, to make submissions.

You are responsible for obtaining any necessary letters from your employer or GP that may be relevant to sentencing, such as confirmation that you would lose your job if disqualified, and we provide you with letters to take to them setting out what is needed. We will deal with letters to any other appropriate witnesses that we are made aware of that may be able to give relevant information to assist with for sentencing and advise whether we believe they should attend Court.

Once you have been sentenced you will be advised as to whether you have grounds for appealing that sentence.

Step 6 - Appeals – should you disagree with either your conviction or sentence then we will represent you on an appeal, up to and including the appeal hearing. The fixed fees are only available if we represented you at trial or sentence. If we have to familiarise ourselves with a case run by somebody else then this is more time consuming and expensive and therefore hourly rates apply.

2. ADDITIONAL CHARGES

In certain circumstances additional charges will apply. The basic guide for these is that an additional charge will arise if your case involves something more than the ordinary, such as using an expert, takes longer than a day or where you ask us to do work in addition to that set out above.

Experts – Expert fees must be paid for in advance, except for attendance at trial.  We will have to charge you additional costs in respect of experts in the following circumstances:

1. Where it is necessary for there to be an inspection of the place where the alleged offence/incident took place.
2. Where a technical expert is necessary to support your Defence.
3. Where an expert attends trial to give evidence (unless recovered from central funds)
Please note that expert fees vary and we would obtain a quote as soon as it appears that this is necessary.  In addition there is a fee of £165 + VAT per expert instructed, to cover the additional work involved.

Long hearings – If a trial or appeal hearing goes into a second day or beyond then there is a "refresher fee" of £500 per day.

Red carpet treatment (fixed fees only) - Should it be necessary for us to do additional work above that already set out then the following charges would apply:

1. Where the case does not proceed substantially as a result of your fault (e.g. where you fail to bring your licence to Court or fail to attend and a further hearing is necessary as a result) then there is an additional fee of £500 per hearing.
2. Where you ask us to apply for an adjournment of the case, or we have to do so because of your failure to deal with matters in time, where a further hearing is not necessary - £77.
3. Personal attendance upon your behalf at any hearing other than as set out above - £500.
4. Personal interview with a lawyer, other than at Court - £165 per hour or part thereof
5. Personal discussion with a lawyer by telephone, save at our instigation - £16.50 per 6 minutes or part thereof
6. Where the case does not proceed due to the fault of the prosecution, an additional fee of £500 (which we will seek to recover from the prosecution).

Counsel – We are authorised to instruct a barrister (referred to as Counsel) on your behalf to attend hearings. Should you require a senior barrister or QC then this can be arranged, but you will be responsible for their additional fees.

3. MISCELLANEOUS

1. Costs of recovering costs – where costs are recoverable from the Government then we put forward the claim to recover those costs for assessment. You may not recover all of the costs, but whatever is recovered is reimbursed to you. Should you not agree with the amount they are prepared to pay there is a further fee to challenge this of £350 + VAT.
2. Should you choose to alter or withdraw your instructions at any stage you are entitled to do so. However, on fixed fees we will still be entitled to be paid for that stage of the case and no refund or discount will be provided. In any event, we are entitled to refuse to hand over your file to you where there are any fees outstanding.
3. In the event of fees not being paid when due we are entitled to stop work and refuse to act further.

Don't wait until it's too late. Call Motor Defence Team now, on 0800 2800 912, for a fixed fee consultation with a specialist lawyer.

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