Appeal against conviction

If you have been found guilty of a motoring offence after a trial and feel that you were unfairly and wrongly convicted you may wish to exercise your right to lodge an appeal against your conviction at a higher Court. For free intial advice contact our expert solicitors on 0845 00 20736.

If you are considering whether or not to appeal against your conviction please feel free to contact our specialist motoring solicitors for a free no obligation chat. We have extensive experience of representing people on appeal and would welcome the opportunity of discussing your case with you.

It is possible to appeal against conviction in either of the following two ways:

(1) Appeal to the Crown Court;

(2) Appeal to the High Court.

Option 1 would involve a retrial (fresh rehearing of your case) before a Judge and two Magistrates whilst option 2 would be a hearing to determine whether the Magistrates Court had made an error in law or incorrectly applied the law to the facts of your case.

In either scenario there is a strict 21 day time limit within which to lodge an appeal and it is essential that this time limit is adhered to. If you find that the 21 day deadline has expired you are still able to lodge an appeal providing you can first obtain permission (leave) to make your application out of time.

It is worth instructing a specialist motoring solicitor to deal with an appeal as the procedure can be more complex than that at the Magistrates Court. Furthermore, there is more formality and the Prosecution are likely to be represented by specialist Higher Court advocates. If you were to loose your appeal the Prosecution would be entitled to ask you to pay their costs – which will be significantly higher than those imposed at the Magistrates Court. If you represented yourself at the lower Court, or you were not satisfied by the representation that you received, it is worth instructing a motoring law expert to prepare your appeal in order to maximise your prospects of succeeding. If you were acquitted, and won your appeal, you would be entitled to recover reasonable costs in preparing your appeal (i.e your legal fees) plus those involved in your defence at the Magistrates Court.

At Stephensons we can provide a written opinion of the merits and likely success of an appeal for a fixed fee. We are also able to work to stringent deadlines, which is particularly important in view of the deadlines applicable to lodging an appeal.