What is DriveProtect?

DriveProtect is a Membership organisation for Drivers in England and Wales who’ve either received a Speeding Ticket, or want to protect themselves in the event of future speeding issues.

With the governments relentless pursuit of innocent Motorists for increasingly minor infractions that were once considered acceptable and safe driving practices, its essential that we protect ourselves as much as possible from this oppressive overreach of authority.

That’s where DriveProtect comes in for its Members.

We contract with specialist Speeding Solicitors who give Members Legal Advice, and — when necessary — Case Preparation and Defense at Court.

We’ve been around since 2009 and have helped thousands of Motorists in that time.

Why use DriveProtect rather than going direct to a Solicitor?

Very simply, cost and selection.

We contract with a firm of specialist Speeding Solicitors who we have a long term relationship of more than 15 Years with.

As in all professions, you get “good” Solicitors and “bad” Solicitors.

The Lawyers we contract with have a proven track record, are highly professional, and truly care about giving the correct advice, and not making spurious promises that are impossible to keep.

The problem with going direct to a firm of Solicitors yourself is:

1) The cost!
2) How on earth do you select them?

Solicitors vary in price significantly. Even if money is no object to you, choosing one is not necessarily a case of “more expensive = better”.

Recently I wrote a newsletter on a 74 year old Driver who spent £12,000 on his representation.

To his Solicitors credit, they had the case thrown out the day before he was due at Court.

However, the Gentleman — John — couldn’t claim back a single penny of the £12,000 legal fees he’d paid!

Even if it had gone to trial, and he had won, he could only have claimed a small fraction of his costs back due to rules that were introduced in 2012 (“Schedule 7 Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012”) which means you can only claim back at legal aid rates and not at the actual rates very good Solicitors charge.

And — in my personal opinion — you don’t get the best, most interested, or experienced Lawyers at these rates!

In short, by becoming a Member of DriveProtect, you’ll have the Lawyer selection taken care of, and the cost is much less than going to a Solicitor direct because we give our Solicitors regular, “bulk” business on behalf of our Members and pass that saving on to Members.

What You Can Expect…

The best outcome is that you could have your speeding ticket cancelled or “thrown out” if there is a procedural error. This does happen sometimes, but needs a skilled and interested Lawyer to pick up on it, and then point it out to the Police or Court usually.

However, even if there is no procedural error, or if you have no legal defense, its still essential to use a good Specialist Motoring Solicitor to put forward Mitigating Circumstances on your behalf…

“Mitigating Circumstances”

This can be the difference between a hefty fine and long ban vs a small fine and potentially no ban at all, or a much shorter one. The second best case — if there is no legal defense to a ban — is very important to understand.

Mitigating Circumstances or “mitigation” is where you request a much lighter penalty — or in some cases no penalty — because it would, for example, cause exceptional hardship to someone.

Having a good Solicitor is essential to present your case for mitigation. They do it day in, day out, so they know what Courts generally look for to “go easy” on you.

This is an often overlooked part of using a highly skilled and experienced Lawyer and many of our Members — including yours truly! — have been very happy with presenting mitigating circumstances that have resulted in a much shorter ban (and often a lower fine) than was expected.

I don’t know about you, but I would much rather a two week ban than a one year ban.

Or a simple fine instead of a years ban, for example.

A Good Solicitor is on Your Side!

Similar to estate agents and used car salesmen, Solicitors are disliked by some people.

I used to be one of them, thinking that they are simply part of a corrupt legal system.

And although that can be true in some cases, my experience has totally changed my mind about good Solicitors!

My experience suggests that even if they agree that the Government is heavy handed in wielding the Police to attack and coerce Motorists, they are there to HELP get you the best possible outcome within that system.

Just because they are operating within a corrupt system — which vilifies and extorts Motorists — they don’t necessarily agree that its a just system.

Without exception in my experience, GOOD Lawyers all share one thing in common: They care about the outcome.

And so do we.