If you are charged with an offence the police may supply information about the benefits of admitting to the matter at an early stage of the case.

It is very important to note that ‘credit for guilty plea’ does not apply to driving bans under sentencing guidelines which state as follows.

‘The guideline applies only to the punitive elements of the sentence and has no impact on ancillary orders including orders of disqualification from driving’

In other words if you were to plead guilty straight away any credit for the guilty plea may reduce the fine or other punishment but it may not reduce the ban.

In this respect you have nothing to lose by pleading not guilty as the court is not obliged to reduce the ban for guilty pleas.

However if it is not possible to avoid a driving ban we can change your plea to guilty at a later stage and ask for the ban to be reduced as follows.

– 25% discount for the drink driving awareness course (alcohol related offences) in appropriate cases.

– up to 33% discount for personal circumstances and the impact of the driving ban at the court’s discretion.

In summary you have every opportunity to defend the charges against you which may result in no driving ban. However if we are unable to achieve this we can still recommend to the court that the ban is kept as short as possible, and you have nothing to lose in this respect from a not guilty plea.

Spend just 5 to 10 minutes with us answering a few questions about your case and give yourself the possibility of avoiding a criminal record and driving ban.

Free Telephone Helpline – we are open for calls any day until 9pm on 0800 044 3730

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