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If you have been arrested or even if you attend a police station as a volunteer you should always speak to a solicitor before making any statement to the police. Our solicitors are members of the (local) Lancaster Duty Solicitor Scheme. We can advise you on police powers and your legal rights while in custody. In the unlikely event that we are not able to attend immediately we can advise you by telephone.

If you are subsequently charged or summoned for an offence we can advise and represent you or instruct a Barrister to represent you from the Magistrates Court right up to and even through to the Court of Appeal if necessary.

Can the Police do that?

All people detained in a police station have specific rights and only in certain restricted circumstances can they be withheld.

You have the right to have someone informed of your detention and to speak to that person by telephone.

You have the right to consult privately with a solicitor. This may be a solicitor of your choice or the Duty Solicitor and may be in person or by telephone.

You have the right to read a copy of the Codes of Practice, which concern your treatment, health and welfare whilst in custody.

You must be informed of these rights when you first come into custody.

Will I get Bail?

Everybody has the right to bail unless the police can show they have grounds for refusing it. These grounds are laid down by law and take into account, amongst other things, the nature of the offence, whether you have a settled bail address and whether you have been convicted previously for failing to answer bail. We can offer more detailed advice on bail and try to secure bail for you.

Can you represent me at short notice?

We would normally be able to represent you at a first hearing in our local Courts the next day. If your case has already been listed for trial we hope that you would give us reasonable notice if you wanted us to represent you, so that we can prepare your case thoroughly. If you are due to appear at a Court outside our area we will try to represent you but if we can't, we will do our very best to find high quality representation for you.

Is my Driving Licence at risk?

The issue that concerns most people when appearing at Court on a motoring matter is what will happen to their driving licence. The two penalties that put your licence at risk are penalty points and disqualification.

Penalty points and disqualification

If you accumulate twelve penalty points on your licence within a three year period you will be liable to disqualification from driving for a minimum period of six months, and in certain circumstances, it may be longer. The Court has a discretion not to disqualify if it can be shown that to do so would cause exceptional hardship. We can help by assessing whether your particular circumstances may amount to exceptional hardship and if they do, we can put forward to the Court arguments why you should not be disqualified.

For some motoring offences, particularly drink-driving offences, the Court has no discretion and must disqualify. For example, someone convicted of driving with excess alcohol must be disqualified for at least 12 months and, for a Defendant who had a drink driving conviction within the preceding 10 years the minimum disqualification period is 3 years. Courts will often offer Defendants the option of undertaking a 'Drink Rehabilitation Course', which if completed successfully within a specified period, can provide a reduction of up to 25% of the disqualification period. Only if special reasons can be found can disqualification be avoided. The circumstances in which the Court will accept that there are special reasons are very limited. We can help to identify what a Court will regard as special reasons and then put these forward on your behalf.
Public funding is not readily available in motoring cases (except for dangerous driving) but we would always discuss this issue with you and with the Court if necessary. Should Legal Aid not be available then we can advise and represent you in Court on a fee-paying basis.

Contact Jobling & Knape with your Police & Crime FAQs question:

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