shauns26
New Member
I received a 3 year ban in January 2012 for D&D. It was my second offence. My first was in 2006, when I had a one year ban, reduced to 9 months.
I know that I will have to serve at least another year before I can consider applying for my licence early (but I'm currently saving cash for car and insurance when I'm back on the road - planning for the future), and I can see that I will really need a lot of advice to make sure my chances of being successful are improved. I have two different jobs (one of them in care), and it would make things easier for both jobs if I could drive. The thing is, it's impossible to find out how much it will all actually cost. Most solicitors say on their websites, "Get in touch" or else say it's a "fixed fee", without actually saying what the fixed fee is. To be honest, I'd rather know up front what the general cost is likely to be, rather than have to be bombarded with spam calls from solicitors desperate to get a hard sale out of me. If a solicitor said, for example, "It ranges from £200 to £400", then it'd be something I could consider. If they say, "It starts at £800 and gets higher depending on complexity", then it really wouldn't be worth it. The solicitors don't even give their hourly rates online.
As I understand it, the key things are character (good conduct etc), and any special circumstances/needs. Surely, for a solicitor, it's just a fixed amount of time to come up the evidence to back those kinds of things up?
The thing is, I don't want to sit with a solicitor for a couple of hours while he rinses me with his undefined hourly rate only to tell me that I've got no chance of getting my licence back early. Has anybody else been through this procedure? Without naming solicitors, could they let me know how much it cost them to get their ban lifted early? Any advice gratefully appreciated, even though I won't be heeding it for a few months yet.
I know that I will have to serve at least another year before I can consider applying for my licence early (but I'm currently saving cash for car and insurance when I'm back on the road - planning for the future), and I can see that I will really need a lot of advice to make sure my chances of being successful are improved. I have two different jobs (one of them in care), and it would make things easier for both jobs if I could drive. The thing is, it's impossible to find out how much it will all actually cost. Most solicitors say on their websites, "Get in touch" or else say it's a "fixed fee", without actually saying what the fixed fee is. To be honest, I'd rather know up front what the general cost is likely to be, rather than have to be bombarded with spam calls from solicitors desperate to get a hard sale out of me. If a solicitor said, for example, "It ranges from £200 to £400", then it'd be something I could consider. If they say, "It starts at £800 and gets higher depending on complexity", then it really wouldn't be worth it. The solicitors don't even give their hourly rates online.
As I understand it, the key things are character (good conduct etc), and any special circumstances/needs. Surely, for a solicitor, it's just a fixed amount of time to come up the evidence to back those kinds of things up?
The thing is, I don't want to sit with a solicitor for a couple of hours while he rinses me with his undefined hourly rate only to tell me that I've got no chance of getting my licence back early. Has anybody else been through this procedure? Without naming solicitors, could they let me know how much it cost them to get their ban lifted early? Any advice gratefully appreciated, even though I won't be heeding it for a few months yet.
