Court

If you have a court date or your case has already been in court, we are usually able to assist with advice and representation at very short notice. The more time we have, the more thorough a job we are able to do but we understand that you may not have been afforded with the luxury of time to establish what you want to do next.

You will normally receive your first hearing date 1 week to 10 days from the date of being charged. You will be expected to attend Court and enter your plea at the first hearing. If you are pleading guilty then in most cases the court will impose your penalty that day. However, if there is a risk of a community order or at worst, custody, the courts are likely to adjourn the case for pre-sentence reports to be compiled by probation officer. You will then be expected to return to court usually within a week to 2 weeks of the first hearing to receive details of your fate.

If you intend to plead not guilty at the first hearing, the court will expect you to outline details of your defence. It is essential that the issues outlined in advance of trial are detailed enough to be considered sufficient for Criminal Procedure Rules to have been complied with. At the same time, it is important that you do not use the first hearing is an opportunity to outline all of the evidence in your case. There is a fine art involved in being compliant with the rules whilst preserving your position of strength in defending a drug driving case. We would always recommend having representation at any court hearing to ensure the best chance of achieving your objectives.

If you plead not guilty to a drug driving offence, you can expect your case to take between 4 to 6 months to reach the trial date. Sometimes the case can take longer than this. In most cases you will not be disqualified whilst the case is ongoing unless there are concerns over your health relating to blackouts etc.

We often get involved in representing clients who have become disillusioned with their current solicitor and the case is already ongoing. This is especially so when a solicitor changes their advice midway through the case because they have run out of ideas of how to defend it! Many solicitors profess expertise in motoring law but in actual fact they are only aware of a number of basic factual defences available to the charges. The team are Geoffrey Miller solicitors have developed and employ a cascade of lawful technical strategies in our defence cases. It is these strategies that have secured the acquittal of 98% of our blood drug driving cases from 1st January 2016 up to 31st December 2025. We are not aware of any other firm that is able to boast such high levels of success. Therefore, if your present solicitor has advised you on a change of plea, speak to us before you do anything else.

Mr Gallington spoke to us at the outset of his case but he chose to instruct a solicitor who charged a fraction of our charges. A few months after he placed instructions with the other solicitor, he came back to us as he trusted his instincts that we would achieve the outcome he was looking for. Of course we did achieve a not guilty verdict and his testimonial speaks volumes. You get what you pay for in life. If you make your choice of solicitor based solely on price alone, you could be making a grave mistake that ends up costing you more money in the long run, especially if they fail to achieve your primary objectives of avoiding conviction.