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of damage and the police suspect that you were drink- driving, then the court consider imposing a community order, and in those cases the defendant will need to attend.
What happens if I plead not guilty?
If you have received a SJP and you are asked to plead online, or if you attend court and you plead not guilty, either way the case will be listed at court for a trial. You must attend that trial. If you do not attend trial, then the court will automatically find you guilty in your absence.
The circumstances under which somebody could plead not guilty are varied. They might be denying the offence, saying that they were not speeding or they did not contravene the red light. Alternatively, you might be advancing a positive defence where you accept the prosecution case but argue it was a medical emergency, or that you only went through a red light to let an ambulance through.
Trials are complex and will require legal representation in almost all cases. At the trial itself, prosecution witnesses would attend court to be questioned. You would give evidence and be questioned as well. Trials will often include various legal submissions and arguments which will need to be put forward by a lawyer.
Even before the trial, there must be communication between parties, and this communication may affect the outcome.
Just one example of this is the rules of evidence.
Prior to the trial, the prosecution will serve evidence on a defendant, who must agree or reject that evidence within 7 days. If the prosecution serves a witness statement but the defendant doesn’t ‘reject’ it, it means you cannot challenge it in court. So if, for example, you’re accused of using your phone whilst driving and you want to challenge that, but you’ve forgotten to ‘reject’ the statement of the police officer, it means that the evidence cannot be challenged in court and you automatically lose. But at the same time, if you ‘reject’ evidence that you did not need to and force a prosecution witness to attend court for no reason, the court will likely impose extra financial penalties on you.
Simultaneously, any evidence on which you are relying must be served on the other parties. If you do not serve evidence and you just turn up with a bundle of papers, the court may adjourn the case to allow the prosecution time to consider your evidence, meaning
PHTM APRIL 2025
you’ve wasted day in court and may be liable for their costs, or worse still they refuse to allow you to rely on it meaning your defence is blown out the water before you’ve even started.
This is why we strongly advise getting a lawyer – as they will do all of this for you.
After trial, if you are found not guilty, there are no points, disqualifications or costs. However, if you are found guilty after a trial then the sentence will increase. You would lose the 1/3 credit on the fine, which in turn makes the surcharge increase (40% of the fine) and the prosecution will apply for costs which will usually be a minimum of £800 or so, but could increase to a few thousand depending on how much work they’ve had to do or if they’ve instructed experts. If the court is considering a community order, you also lose the 1/3 credit in that.
Would my case go to the Crown Court?
Usually for road traffic offences, no. Most are dealt with in the Magistrates’ Court.
There are only a couple of ways that a road traffic offence could proceed to the Crown Court.
Certain cases are too serious to be dealt with in the Magistrate’s Court and will automatically proceed to the Crown Court, such as frauds, sexual offences or murders. But for road traffic offences, it is only the very serious cases that will go straight from a Magistrates’ Court to a Crown Court – generally dangerous driving or cases involving serious injury or death.
Will I have to pay for legal representation or will I be eligible for legal aid?
Most road traffic offences don’t carry legal aid, so it’s unlikely you would qualify for a free lawyer. If the case is serious enough you may qualify, but the majority of cases, such as speeding or using a phone while driving, will probably not. So your options will likely be fairly stark - either you represent yourself or you pay privately.
However, at Patterson Law, we offer free initial advice. So if you’re summonsed to court or at risk of being summonsed to court, before you do anything at all, call us for free legal advice. Please email
advice@pattersonlaw.co.uk or call us on 01626 359800.
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