Motoring Fees
Need legal assistance for a motor offence? Our experienced Business Crime and Regulatory team are ready to be by your side to advise and represent you. Below you can find out more about our specialist team and the fees we charge.
Our fees
Our pricing information below outlines our legal assistance costs for summary-only motoring offences in various scenarios. Summary offences include speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol, driving without insurance and careless driving.
| Response to prosecution | Category of matter | Our fees (not including VAT) |
|---|---|---|
| Guilty pleas | This will apply to any summary offence where representation is required and we attend at court. | From £950 + travel time and disbursements |
| Guilty pleas: mitigating circumstances/special reasons arguments | This will apply where you wish to avoid endorsement or disqualification and representation is required and we attend court. | From £1250 + travel time and disbursements |
| Guilty pleas: case where no attendance is required | This is where you wish us to submit a written plea in mitigation on your behalf and we do not attend court. | From £650 + |
What is included in the fees and how does it take to complete?
| Guilty pleas: | Mitigating circumstances/special reasons arguments: |
|---|---|
This will usually involve between 4-5 hours work |
This will usually involve between 5-6 hours work |
| Cases where no attendance required | Not guilty pleas |
|---|---|
This will usually involve approximately 3 hours work |
This will usually involve between 10-12 hours work |
Who will handle my case?
With our Business Crime and Regulatory Team, you get all the legal and specialist subject expertise needed for motoring offences. The team includes specialist solicitors who each have between 12 and 35 years’ experience dealing with all kinds of cases. They are on hand to give you the advice you are looking for when you need it.
Our Head of Insured Regulatory, Stephanie Thirlwell, leads a team of solicitors across four offices and has worked in business crime and regulatory law for over 15 years.
To supplement and support our solicitors, we employ a paralegal who receives extensive training within our firm and works under the direct supervision of a solicitor with at least 5 years’ post-qualification experience. Trainee Solicitors or Paralegals may assist our solicitors with the work in terms of collating evidence and taking instructions from you but they will be supervised by the solicitor.
Meet our motoring offences legal team
Stephanie Thirlwell
Stephanie qualified as a solicitor in 2007 and joined rradar in 2017. Stephanie is Head of Regulatory at rradar, managing and supervising the Business Crime and Regulatory teams in their handling of a varied caseload of criminal and regulatory matters. Stephanie provides advice and assistance throughout investigations into companies and individuals conducted by any regulatory body. Stephanie is regularly instructed to train companies in respect of their regulatory obligations and legal updates as well as preparing articles, webinars and podcasts in respect of all things risk and regulation.
Stephanie has extensive experience in defending individuals as well as large companies in investigations and prosecutions by regulators including the Health & Safety Executive, Trading Standards, HMRC, DVSA, The Civil Aviation Authority, The Environment Agency, The Football Association, The Serious Fraud Office, CQC, ICO, FCA, Ofsted, Charities Commission and the Crown Prosecution Service. Stephanie has represented in a number of high-profile cases gaining national media attention, including numerous joint police and HSE fatality cases. Her work with high profile and high net worth individuals means she is skilled at managing reputational risks arising from enforcement proceedings. Stephanie has extensive experience working in both insured and private matters in complex, high-profile cases including death by dangerous and death by careless driving matters.
Helen Taylor
Helen Taylor is the Legal Manager for the Business Crime and Regulatory team in the Leeds office. Helen has particular knowledge of Road Traffic matters having previously worked as a Tier 2 Legal Advisor to Magistrates specialising in Criminal Law in the North and West Yorkshire Courts for Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS).
During her time with HMCTS, Helen dealt with thousands of Road Traffic matters in the SJP courts, traffic courts and trial courts. When working for HMCTS, Helen also trained trainee solicitors and trainee legal advisors in how to take all traffic courts. Helen was part of the North and West Yorkshire training team and trained incoming new Magistrates in road traffic and provided annual updater training to experienced Magistrates in relation to road traffic matters.
Helen is extremely knowledgeable in this area and frequently advises in relation to Road Traffic matters.
Elynor Drinkwater
Elynor is a First-Class honours graduate following completion of her Law degree in 2020 and received a Distinction in her Master of Law in Professional Practice in 2022. Elynor obtained her first role as paralegal in September 2019 where she worked in a publicly funded Criminal Defence firm working on cases heard before both the Magistrates’ and Crown Court.
Elynor joined rradar in April 2021 and her knowledge and experience expanded from police investigations and the Crown Prosecution Service. Elynor has attended inquest proceedings and has worked on cases dealing with a wide range of regulators, such as the Office of Financial Sanction Implementation (OFSI), Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Environment Agency (EA), Care Quality Commission (CQC) and also professional bodies such as the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), and the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
Elynor also prepared the first draft of robust policies and procedures for sanction compliance which was put to OFSI in mitigation and resulted in no further action taken against our client. Elynor has also helped deliver training on Indecent Images to a long-standing client to advise on appropriate safeguards and the actions that should be taken.
Jeff Swales
Jeff joined rradar from leading Yorkshire law firm Andrew Jackson in 2018 and leads the Business Crime & Regulation team at rradar’s Hull office. He has over thirty years’ experience of advising and representing businesses and individuals in investigations and prosecutions involving regulators such as the Police, HSE, Environment Agency, Traffic Commissioner, DVSA, and local authority trading standards and environmental health departments.
His experience extends to many industries and sectors. He has handled cases in both the Magistrates Court and Crown Court. He is well used to advising clients in caution interviews and in dealing with the HSE, police and other regulators to manage the investigation to his client’s best advantage.
He has handled many fatal and serious health & safety investigations including for corporate manslaughter.
He has extensive experience of motoring offences and road haulage matters, including Public Inquiries, complex tachograph/driver’s hours offences, overloading and construction and use offences, as well as representing corporate clients and their employees in relation to road traffic incidents and investigations. He has been involved in many Coroner’s Inquests including deaths arising out of workplace accidents, road traffic accidents, in care and in custody.
Rupert Nevin
Rupert is an accomplished criminal regulatory lawyer with 20+ years’ experience in the field.
Previously partner and head of the regulatory Yorkshire/North-East team at DWF LLP, the quality and professionalism of his work has been endorsed by testimonies and commendations in legal directories. He was also a partner at HLW Keeble Hawson, Gordons LLP, and DLA Piper.
He has been involved in representing companies, directors and professionals charged or being investigated for criminal offences in connection with their work activities, with a strong emphasis on corporate and personal manslaughter, health, and safety breaches, environmental, fraud, bribery/corruption, and Trading Standards offences.
His skill set extends to crisis management and strategic compliance, due diligence, risk, and advisory work on general regulatory matters, to support in-house legal teams and compliance directors.
Over the course of his career, he has developed a broad practice in business and corporate crime with a significant EU/global element. This expanded into non-contentious work: policy, compliance, and legal risk. He subsequently specialised in criminal regulatory and latterly in health and safety, inquests, and crisis management.
He is noteworthy for having secured the first acquittal under the new law of Corporate Manslaughter.
His contributions to the legal section include co-authoring Mitchell, Morrell and Nevin “Rail Industry Liabilities” London DWF LLP, 2010, contributing to Business Risk Management (Thomson Reuters 2004) and establishing a learning programme for MBA students (University of Bradford) including directors’ criminal and civil liabilities 2002-6.
John Davies
Having gained considerable criminal experience in a large regional practice, John moved to concentrate on business crime and regulatory practice at Ashton Morton Slack, Cartwright King and then Irwin Mitchell before eventually joining rradar in August 2022.
John has brought a wealth of experience, having amassed over 20 years of criminal practice, and defending matters brought by the full range of prosecuting authorities including the Crown Prosecution Service, the Serious Fraud Office, the Financial Conduct Authority, HMRC, the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency. John has been involved in some landmark cases including a SFO bribery case that saw the first human defendants acquitted after trial, following the agreement of a Deferreed Prosecution Agreement.
John has defended countless motorists charged with offences ranging from death by dangerous driving to driving without due care and has defended in other transport cases involving the DVSA, the Traffic Commissioner and the Civil Aviation Authority. Before moving into the legal profession, John worked for a number of market leading companies in management roles. This has enabled him to adopt a strong commercial perspective when dealing with companies and corporate clients.
John will advise and represent individuals, and companies, at the Police Station and at the Magistrates’ Court. Professional clients have also had difficult experiences with regulatory bodies such as ACCA, the General Pharmaceutical Council and the UK Council of Psychotherapists successfully managed with representations made on their behalf. You can connect with John on LinkedIn.