If you are Acquitted of ANY court case you won't get your COSTS recovered

[BaZa®]

Government is trying to save money by ditching "the Loser pays" principle when people contest a speeding fines etc. If you're not guilty of a motoring charge, you still pay the legal bill. This will affect about 400,000 people a year. Surely the powers should simply concentrate on issuing fines or charges correctly in the first place.

The Ministry of Justice plan to implement a new costs recovery system from October 2009. Under new rules any defendant acquitted of an offence in the Magistrates' Court will only be reimbursed at prevailing legal aid rates regardless of the level of costs they paid to their lawyers.
This proposed rule change will undoubtedly mean that many defendants will accept wrongful prosecutions for commercial reasons. The Association of Motor Offence Lawyers (of which I am President) see thousands of convictions each year in the Magistrates' Court that should never occur due to misunderstanding of technical points concerning motoring legislation. If a defendant wishes to clear their name, they often have to take their case to the Crown Court. This can be an expensive process for which legal aid is unavailable which many will not embark upon with the knowledge that even when they win their appeal, they will lose the majority of the legal fees they spend in the process.
The costs savings the government are seeing to make could be made by examining and improving other ineffective processes within the court system. It is not fair to pass yet another expense onto the public.

[Steve_L]

If you sign the petition all that will happen is your IP address will get filed in a box marked Pinko Commie Subversive, expect an early morning call, not that they don't know where you live already

Direct action....go and squeeze a sponge over a policemans helmet

As a culchie from the mountains of Clare,what's council tax........?

[Realbark]

Signed the petition! But as ive never been aquitted before its probably not gonna help.

[carldruid]

Originally Posted by Steve_L

If you sign the petition all that will happen is your IP address will get filed in a box marked Pinko Commie Subversive, expect an early morning call, not that they don't know where you live already

Direct action....go and squeeze a sponge over a policemans helmet

As a culchie from the mountains of Clare,what's council tax........?

Signed it.. Pinko Commie Subversive? always thought of myself as a Pinko Commie Fascist Bastard actually and whats makes you think that we are all not on THE LIST already. Its not that i'm paranoid.. i KNOW they are out to get me

[Steve_L]

Originally Posted by carldruid

Signed it.. Pinko Commie Subversive? always thought of myself as a Pinko Commie Fascist Bastard actually and whats makes you think that we are all not on THE LIST already. Its not that i'm paranoid.. i KNOW they are out to get me

Well if you were not on ' The List ' you are now..

So whilst wearing your Facist bastard hat you are advocating a authoritarian heirachical government...

Then in your Pinko Commie hat you advocate collectivism in a classless society....

Bit confused there comrade.... me too....