If you have been convicted and sentenced after trial at the Magistrates Court you will be extremely frustrated at their decision. 95% of motoring cases are dealt with in the Magistrates Court and 90% of cases result in a conviction. Magistrates are volunteers and not lawyers. They often misunderstand the legal process and miss vital facts. Sometimes they are prosecution biased and instead of considering whether there is doubt they are actually looking for evidence to convict.

Unrepresented defendants can have a very difficult experience because they are unable to present legal argument as clearly as the prosecutor and often important legal points or rules of evidence are ignored.

It is because they do not possess the intricate legal knowledge or technical issues in motoring cases that these well meaning volunteers often get it wrong

If you feel you have been convicted unfairly you can appeal to the Crown Court against conviction and sentence.

Before lodging your appeal with the court you should obtain expert legal advice as it is an expensive process and if your appeal is dismissed, your conviction will stand and your sentence could either stay the same or increase. You would more than likely also be ordered to pay prosecution costs. Our team of specialist lawyers are waiting for to help you so that reach the right decision for you.

An appeal is a re-trial of all the evidence and it is an opportunity to bring in new evidence not relied on in the magistrates court. If you have represented yourself often vital evidence is missed or not admitted so an appeal enables you to submit this evidence.

If you are successful on an appeal, your representative will apply for a defendant costs order so that you can claim back some of the costs you have incurred.

If you have pleaded guilty to an offence and have received an unduly heavy penalty which you do not agree with you can appeal to the Crown Court. They will re-consider your sentence after listening to your mitigation.

It is wise to get advice before appealing about the chances of reducing your sentence as you will incur costs particularly if you are unsuccessful in reducing your sentence. The sentence can go up or down so seeking advice before the appeal is vital.

Unsure as to what to do, speak to one of our specialist appeal solicitors who will discuss your options and together we will find the best way forward with your case.

If you have received a notice of conviction and sentence about an offence you know nothing about you will be both shocked and alarmed. Do do not despair, it is not cast in stone. If you knew nothing about the proceedings or the hearing date then you can apply to get your case re-opened. There is no strict time limit on this but it is generally acknowledged that 28 days is a reasonable period but there are circumstances where it may justify an application outside this time.

This involves making a statutory declaration before the court. Sometimes this sort of matter can be dealt with in writing although most require attendance at court.

If you have been convicted in the magistrates court for an offence you knew nothing about you should make a statutory declaration.

To make a statutory declaration you have to attend court and swear before magistrates that you knew nothing about the proceedings or the hearing which convicted you. If they accept you declaration they will set aside the conviction and sentence.

This means that the whole matter starts again from the beginning so you will be given the opportunity to plead guilty or not guilty to the original offence.

The only other form of appeals are the 2 routes to the High Court:

Judicial Review: Judicial review is when you appeal to the High Court to have a decision of the magistrates court or the Crown Court reviewed.

By way of Case Stated: This is when you appeal to the High Court on a point of law, where you feel that the trial court were wrong in law on a specific point.

These are very expensive and unusual forms of appeal so it is imperative that you seek expert advice before pursuing this avenue of appeal.

Yes, you can apply for your disqualification to be suspended but you should do so at the same time as you lodge your appeal.

If you were offered the drink drivers rehabilitation course you will have been informed as to the deadline by which it needs to be completed, if you appeal is after this deadline then you will not be offered the course again.

It is a decision for you to make early on in your appeal. You are taking a gamble if you want to see if you win your appeal, if you do then it will not matter whether you took the course or not but if you lose and are beyond the deadline you will NOT be given the opportunity to do it and your disqualification will have to be served in full without the 25% discount that the course offers.