Driving offence
Traffic offence appeals
Being convicted of a motoring offence in the Magistrates Court needn’t be the end of the road. Our specialist solicitors can take an appeal to the Crown Court and ask for any disqualification to be suspended in the meantime.
Have you been convicted of a road traffic offence?
Slater and Gordon’s driving offence solicitors have the experience you need to appeal against a guilty verdict in the Crown Court. Call us now on 0161 830 9632 or contact us and we’ll call you.
Talk to a driving offence solicitor today
Contact usCan I appeal against a conviction at the Magistrates’ court?
If you’ve been found guilty and sentenced for a motoring offence in the Magistrates’ Court, you have an automatic right of appeal to the Crown Court.
This means you don’t need any specific grounds for appeal, or the permission of a Judge or Magistrate; you simply have to believe that you’ve been wrongly convicted or inappropriately sentenced.
Importantly, you can’t appeal against your conviction if you entered a guilty plea at the Magistrates’ Court, but its permissible to appeal against the sentence of that court.
This means that if the sentence was a driving ban, or the penalty points given had led to you receiving a mandatory disqualification for exceeding 12 points, we might be able to apply for your disqualification to be suspended, pending the outcome of an appeal at the Crown Court.
To find out if we may be able to appeal against your motoring conviction or Magistrates’ Court sentence in the Crown Court, call us on 0161 830 9632 or contact us and we’ll call you.
Can I appeal against a new driver ban?
New drivers are well advised to go carefully while they polish their driving skills. That’s because any driver accumulating six penalty points within two years of passing their test will have their driving licence revoked and be required to re-sit every single part of the driving test in order to get a new licence.
This ‘revocation’ isn’t the same thing as a disqualification in principle. However, as the process of applying for a new provisional licence and taking all the required tests is quite lengthy, the end result is similar to being given a three to six month driving disqualification.
The only way to avoid this outcome is either to win the case that would take you over six points on conviction, or to mitigate in court in order to seek an alternative sentence. While this might sound difficult, we’ve had significant success in helping new drivers to retain their licences against the possibility of revocation.
To find out if we might be able to help you avoid having your licence revoked, call us on 0161 830 9632 or contact us and we’ll call you.
Can I appeal against a traffic signal offence?
Contravening any official traffic signal – whether it’s a red traffic light or a sign saying ‘One Way Street’ – is against the law and punishable by an automatic endorsement of three penalty points and a fine.
However, it can be possible to mount a successful defence against traffic light offences. That’s because the evidence to support these prosecutions usually comes from bystander reports that are hard to substantiate or fixed cameras that may not be able to show the full circumstances surrounding an alleged offence.
Even if you’re convicted of the offence, it’s sometimes possible to prevent the penalty endorsement from being applied, depending on the circumstances.
To find out if we might be able to help you regarding a traffic light offence, call us on 0161 830 9632 or contact us and we’ll call you.
Criminal law help and expert guides
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