Get signing guys and gals.

New regulations set to come into force later this month will see motorists forced to cough up court costs - even if they're found not guilty or acquitted of motoring offences.

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/defa...?storyId=20842

I've posted this on the idle banter thread, but slight correction is needed. Costs reclaimable under the proposal are not eliminated but are capped. Unfortunately capped at legal aid rates. Which are poo.

Like I said in the idle banter thread, if this does go through, which I hope it won't, I suspect the difference between your costs and legal aid costs would be made up by an insurance policy.

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

I've posted this on the idle banter thread, but slight correction is needed. Costs reclaimable under the proposal are not eliminated but are capped. Unfortunately capped at legal aid rates. Which are poo.

Like I said in the idle banter thread, if this does go through, which I hope it won't, I suspect the difference between your costs and legal aid costs would be made up by an insurance policy.

Sorry mate didn't realise.

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

Like I said in the idle banter thread, if this does go through, which I hope it won't, I suspect the difference between your costs and legal aid costs would be made up by an insurance policy.

IF you have legal expenses cover, undoubtedly. But then, if you have legal expenses cover, why do you care about this change in the law?

Sound like there changing the law to suit the people breaking the law?
If the police was able to do there job and only send tickets to those who were breaking the law then they wouldnt have the problem of the people arguing and beating them surely?

well thats my opinion now lets have some abuse from the Org that have some reason to disagree with me

Originally Posted by Baph

IF you have legal expenses cover, undoubtedly. But then, if you have legal expenses cover, why do you care about this change in the law?

Sorry, my bad, I meant an extra insurance policy along the lines of no-win-no-fee type setups taken out at the beginning of proceedings. This proposal isn't specific to motoring offences, it's just that motoring groups are more shouty and have picked up on it.

Current situation, if you don't have legal expenses cover on your motor insurance and you need to go through the courts, the solicitor involved will want at the very least a deposit up front for disbursements etc. If this proposal goes through (and like I say, just playing devil's advocate here) then I suspect you'll end up paying an insurance premium up front. If you win then the solicitor claims their costs back from the prosecution, gets an amount up to that which equals legal aid rates, then gets the difference back from the insurance policy, which also pays back your deposit.

The ironic thing with that scenario is that insurance costs will be higher the more innocent you look - which is where the whole thing could fall down quite badly.

Costs reclaimable from the prosecution are already capped - the cap is a test of "reasonableness". If you spent a squillion pounds on your defence and won, then no, currently you won't be able to recover your defence costs because a squillion pounds would be considered unreasonable. What this proposal is doing is lowering that cap (significantly) to legal aid rates.

Like I say, I'm just playing devil's advocate, the facts that legal aid rates are pitifully low and the above noted irony of the most likely practical solution resulting in a lower entry bar for recourse to the courts the weaker your case looks means that I can definitely not support this proposal.

Signed. No idea if it will make any difference but hey, it only took a few min.