New Legal Aid Ruling Regarding Motoring Tickets
Wednesday, 30. June 2010
In October last year the old dopey Government introduced a law that was aimed at reducing the legal aid bill by saying that if you challenged a motoring charge, such as speeding, and you won your case, you could only claim costs based on the legal aid rate. So if you had paid for a solicitor to prepare the case and represent you, and you won your case, you could only recover through the court the legal aid rate which would only be about 20% – 25% of the normal cost of a lawyer. This had a double whammy effect on company car drivers because if they were working it would have been unlikely that they would be granted legal aid so they would then have to decide whether to pay a solicitor to defend them. However, weighing up the cost involved, the employee may decide to simply accept the charge and not challenge it but end up with points on their licence that may have resulted in disciplinary action from their employer. The good news is that a Judicial Review has overturned the law and made it possible for defendants that have successfully defended the charge to claim back all of their costs. If you, or anyone you know, has been a victim of this daft law, you are now able to recover your costs, lost in a case since the ruling came in last October, by making application to the court. Any views on this? By Graham Hill
