Terms of Website Use

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS SITE

This terms of use (together with the documents referred to in it) tells you the terms of use on which you may make use of our website, whether as a guest or a registered user. Use of our site includes accessing, browsing, or registering to use our site.

Please read these terms of use carefully before you start to use our site, as these will apply to your use of our site. We recommend that you print a copy of this for future reference.

By using our site, you confirm that you accept these terms of use and that you agree to comply with them.

If you do not agree to these terms of use, you must not use our site.

Other applicable terms

These terms of use refer to the following additional terms, which also apply to your use of our site:

• Our Privacy Policy (available on this website under the Legal section), which sets out the terms on which we process any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us. By using our site, you consent to such processing and you warrant that all data provided by you is accurate.
• Our Acceptable Use Policy (available on this website under the Legal section), which sets out the permitted uses and prohibited uses of our site. When using our site, you must comply with this Acceptable Use Policy.
• Our Cookie Policy (available on this website under the Legal section), which sets out information about the cookies on our site.

If you purchase goods from our site, our Terms and conditions of supply will apply to the sales.

Information about us

This website is a site operated by the company named on this website. All relevant company details and regulatory authorities are on this website.

Changes to these terms

We may revise these terms of use at any time by amending this page.

Please check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we made, as they are binding on you.

Changes to our site

We may update our site from time to time, and may change the content at any time. However, please note that any of the content on our site may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update it.

We do not guarantee that our site, or any content on it, will be free from errors or omissions.

Accessing our site

Our site is made available free of charge.

We do not guarantee that our site, or any content on it, will always be available or be uninterrupted. Access to our site is permitted on a temporary basis. We may suspend, withdraw, discontinue or change all or any part of our site without notice. We will not be liable to you if for any reason our site is unavailable at any time or for any period.

You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to our site.

You are also responsible for ensuring that all persons who access our site through your internet connection are aware of these terms of use and other applicable terms and conditions, and that they comply with them.

Your account and password

If you choose, or you are provided with, a user identification code, password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential. You must not disclose it to any third party.

We have the right to disable any user identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our reasonable opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these terms of use.

If you know or suspect that anyone other than you knows your user identification code or password, you must promptly notify us at the contact email address on this website.

Intellectual property rights

We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in our site, and in the material published on it. Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.

You may print off one copy, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from our site for your personal use and you may draw the attention of others within your organisation to content posted on our site.

You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.

Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of content on our site must always be acknowledged.

You must not use any part of the content on our site for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors.

If you print off, copy or download any part of our site in breach of these terms of use, your right to use our site will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.

No reliance on information

The content on our site is provided for general information only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.

Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on our site, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content on our site is accurate, complete or up-to-date.

Limitation of our liability

Nothing in these terms of use excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury arising from our negligence, or our fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by English law.

To the extent permitted by law, we exclude all conditions, warranties, representations or other terms which may apply to our site or any content on it, whether express or implied.

We will not be liable to any user for any loss or damage, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising under or in connection with:

• use of, or inability to use, our site; or
• use of or reliance on any content displayed on our site.

If you are a business user, please note that in particular, we will not be liable for:

• loss of profits, sales, business, or revenue;
• business interruption;
• loss of anticipated savings;
• loss of business opportunity, goodwill or reputation; or
• any indirect or consequential loss or damage.

If you are a consumer user, please note that we only provide our site for domestic and private use. You agree not to use our site for any commercial or business purposes, and we have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.

We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a virus, distributed denial-of-service attack, or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of our site or to your downloading of any content on it, or on any website linked to it.

We assume no responsibility for the content of websites linked on our site. Such links should not be interpreted as endorsement by us of those linked websites. We will not be liable for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.

Different limitations and exclusions of liability will apply to liability arising as a result of the supply of any goods by use to you, which will be set out in our Terms and conditions of supply.

Uploading content to our site

Whenever you make use of a feature that allows you to upload content to our site, or to make contact with other users of our site, you must comply with the content standards set out in our Acceptable Use Policy (available on this website under the Legal section).

You warrant that any such contribution does comply with those standards, and you will be liable to us and indemnify us for any breach of that warranty. If you are a consumer user, this means you will be responsible for any loss or damage we suffer as a result of your breach of warranty.

Any content you upload to our site will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. You retain all of your ownership rights in your content, but you are required to grant us and other users of the Site a limited licence to use, store and copy that content and to distribute and make it available to third parties. The rights you license to us are described in the next paragraph (Rights you licence).

We also have the right to disclose your identity to any third party who is claiming that any content posted or uploaded by you to our site constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights, or of their right to privacy.

We will not be responsible, or liable to any third party, for the content or accuracy of any content posted by you or any other user of our site.

We have the right to remove any posting you make on our site if, in our opinion, your post does not comply with the content standards set out in our Acceptable Use Policy (available on this website under the Legal section).

The views expressed by other users on our site do not represent our views or values.

You are solely responsible for securing and backing up your content.

Rights you licence

When you upload or post content to our site, you grant the following licenses:

• A worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable licence to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform that content in connection with the services provided by our site and across different media and to promote the site or services; and
• A worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable licence to allow third parties to use the content for their purposes.

We will only ever use your materials to carry out your instructions to us – unless, very exceptionally, a court or other regulator orders us to disclose them.

Viruses

We do not guarantee that our site will be secure or free from bugs or viruses.

You are responsible for configuring your information technology, computer programmes and platform in order to access our site. You should use your own virus protection software.

You must not misuse our site by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our site, the server on which our site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site. You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack. By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our site will cease immediately.

Linking to our site

You may link to our home page, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it.

You must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.

You must not establish a link to our site in any website that is not owned by you.

Our site must not be framed on any other site, nor may you create a link to any part of our site other than the home page.

We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

The website in which you are linking must comply in all respects with the content standards set out in our Acceptable Use Policy (available on this website under the Legal section).

If you wish to make any use of content on our site other than that set out above, please contact us via the email address on this website.

Third party links and resources in our site

Where our site contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only.

We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources.

Applicable law

If you are a consumer, please note that these terms of use, its subject matter and its formation, are governed by English law. You and we both agree to that the courts of England and Wales will have non-exclusive jurisdiction. However, if you are a resident of Northern Ireland you may also bring proceedings in Northern Ireland, and if you are resident of Scotland, you may also bring proceedings in Scotland.

If you are a business, these terms of use, its subject matter and its formation (and any non-contractual disputes or claims) are governed by English law. We both agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Contact us

To contact us, please email us using the contact email address on this website.

Thank you for visiting our site.

Privacy Policy

Barry Culshaw Privacy Policy and Notice

My Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy sets out how I, Barry Culshaw, will use and protect any information that you give to me.

I am committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected.

As an essential part of my business, I collect and manage Client and Non-Client data.  I act as “Data Controller” in respect of the information I gather and process.

My use of your personal Information is regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), and any information by which you can be identified when using my website or supplied by you prior to or during the course of a matter on which you instruct me, can only be used in accordance with this Privacy Policy and GDPR.

I may need to change this Policy occasionally to keep up to date with the latest Data Protection Law. This will be done by updating my webpage and therefore you should refer back to that page from time to time to ensure that you have no objection to any changes I may need to make.

What Information I collect from you

Depending on the nature of the service you ask me to provide, I may collect the following “personal data” information:

• Your Name
• Your Date of Birth
• Your Home Address
• Your Email Address
• Your telephone contact numbers
• Financial Information
• National Insurance Number

I will only process special category personal data with your explicit permission.

Please note that all the Personal Information I receive from you is treated with the strictest of confidentiality.

How I use your Personal Information

I use the information you give me to understand your needs so as to provide you with the service you require.  It is therefore used for the following reasons:

• To set you up as a client, open a client file for you, provide you with my legal services, administer and manage my relationship with you.
• To carry out regulatory and compliance checks.
• To ensure the billing of any procured services by you and obtain payment.
• To contact you about legal updates that may be of interest to you.
• To communicate with you via telephone, email, and in writing
• To process and respond to any complaints in order to meet my legal obligations.
• To monitor and record information relating to the use of my services, to include my website
• To bring or defend legal proceedings

The information that I need for these purposes is “personal data”.  I may also process sensitive classes of information which includes:

• Physical or mental health details.
• Racial or ethnic origin details.
• Civil Partnership or relationship details.
• Details of your partner, civil partner or spouse.
• Religious or other beliefs.

The use of the above is subject to your instructions, Data Protection, and my duty of confidentiality.

Security Measures I have in place to protect your Personal Information

I have appropriate security measures to prevent your Personal Information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.  These measures include:

• Protecting against potential breaches of confidentiality.
• Ensuring all IT facilities are protected against damage, loss or misuse.
• Ensuring optimum security on my website.

I have in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where I am legally required to do so.

Who I share your Personal Information with

I will always treat your Personal Information with the utmost respect and will never sell or share your Personal Information with other organisations. However, I may need to share your personal data with trusted third parties, such as:

• Professional Advisers who I want to instruct on your behalf or refer to, for example, Counsel, Medical professionals, Accountants or other Experts.
• My Insurers for the purpose of my Professional Indemnity Insurance.
• My accountant.
• My bank.
• My IT support and service provider.
• Law Enforcement Agencies and Regulatory Bodies to comply with my legal and regulatory obligations

I only allow my service providers to handle your personal data if I am satisfied that they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data.

Use of my Website

If you contact me via my website, or contact me via another means, I will collect that information you provide when you contact me, such as, your name and contact details. I will use this information to:

• Send to you the information you have requested.
• Respond to your enquiry.

Money Laundering

I will receive personal data from you for the purposes of my Money Laundering checks, such as, photographic and address identification.  These will be processed for the purpose of preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, or as otherwise permitted by law or with your express consent.

Your Obligations

If you forward to me personal data about anyone other than yourself, you will be required to ensure that you have the appropriate consents to do so, so that I may use that personal data for the purpose for which you have provided it to me.

Do you have to provide me with your Personal Information?

Where I have stated that your Personal Information is used to comply with the Statutory requirements I will need you to provide the Personal Information requested.  If you do not provide your Personal Information I need when I ask for it, I may not be able to respond to you, enter into a contract with you, meet my obligations under the contract, or comply with my legal obligations.  If you have any concerns about whether you need to provide your Personal Information, please contact me as the Data Protection Officer (details at end of Policy).

How Long I retain your Personal Information for

I will only keep your personal data about your matter for as long as I am required to do so in connection with your matter, which is a minimum of 6 years from the date of the matter concluding. This is so that I am able to comply with any legal, accounting or reporting/regulatory requirements.

Where I obtain documentary evidence of ID I am required under the Money Laundering Regulations to retain such evidence for a minimum statutory period of 5 years from the conclusion of your matter.

Further, in accordance with the SRA rules, I must store all accounting records securely and retain these for at least 6 years.

To comply with my regulatory requirement to have systems to ensure that I am able to identify and assess potential conflicts of interest, etc., I will keep sufficient data so that I can identify the nature and content of my Retainer with you.

How long do I retain your Client Files for

As your Solicitor I have a duty to retain files for a minimum period of time which in the nature of the work that I conduct will be a minimum period of 6 years.

Your rights in connection with your Personal Information

You may at any time request me to rectify or erase your Personal Information held by me.  Should you believe that any information I am holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to me as Data Protection Officer so that appropriate action can be taken.

If you would like to exercise your rights, I will need sufficient information in order to identify you which may include, if necessary, proof of your identity and address.

I will not sell, distribute or lease your Personal Information to third parties unless I have your permission or I am required by law to do so.

Right to be Informed

This Privacy Policy and Notice fulfils my obligation to tell you about the ways in which I use your Personal Information.

Right to Access

You may request details of Personal Information which I hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1988.  A small fee will be payable.  If you would like a copy of the information held on you, please write to me as Data Protection Officer.

Right to Rectification

If any of the Personal Information that I hold about you is inaccurate, you have the right to ask me to correct any errors in your Personal Information.  Please contact me in this regard as Data Protection Officer.

Right to be Forgotten

You have the right to ask us to delete your Personal Information where:

• I do not need your Personal Information anymore.
• You withdraw your consent to my use of your Personal Information and I have no other legal basis to keep your Personal Information.
• You have asked me to review and explain my legitimate interests to you and I do not actually have a valid legitimate interest to do what I am doing.
• My use of your Personal Information is illegal.
• I have to delete your Personal Information to comply with my legal obligations.

Right to Object

You have the right to object to the continued use of your data for any purpose listed above for which consent is identified as the lawful basis for processing, that is, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. 

Right to Restrict Processing

You have the right to ask me to restrict my use of your Personal Information where:

• You do not think that the Personal Information I hold about you is correct, so that I can check if it is correct.
• You believe my data processing is unlawful, but you do not want your data erased.
• You wish to object to the processing of your data, but I have yet to determine whether this is appropriate.

Right to Data Portability

You have the right to ask me to provide you with a copy of your Personal Information you have provided me with in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format, and the right to transfer that information to another party where:

1. I am using your Personal Information on the basis of your consent or on the basis that it is necessary to perform a contract with you, and
2. The use I am making of your Personal Information is carried out by automated means.

If you would like to move, copy or transfer the electronic Personal Information that I hold about you to another organisation, please contact me as Data Protection Officer.

Right to withdraw Consent

Where I am using your Personal Information based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time by contacting me as Data Protection Officer.

Right to make a Complaint

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”), who is the UK regulator for Data Protection issues.

I would, however, appreciate the opportunity of dealing with your compliant before you approach the ICO in order to try and resolve any issues or concerns that you may have.

Overseas Transfers

None of the information that I collect, process or store as a result of my website is transferred outside of the European Economic Area.  This includes information that is exchanged with any third party organisation.

HOW TO CONTACT ME AS DATA PROTECTION OFFICER

I am the Data Protection Officer and I am also the Risk and Compliance Officer. If you have any questions or concerns relating to this Policy, please contact me, as follows:

Mr Barry Culshaw, Data Protection Officer

Barry Culshaw, Solicitor-Advocate (Higher Courts Criminal Proceedings)

15 Beatty Close

Locks Heath

Southampton

SO31 6SU

or email: barry@barryculshaw.co.uk

If you feel that I have not dealt with your request appropriately, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

or email at ico.org.uk

Helpline number:  0303 123 1113. 

Barry Culshaw is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under SRA number 62582 whose rules can be accessed via www.sra.org.uk

Cookie Policy

Information about our use of cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.

We use the following cookies:

• Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services.
• Analytical/performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
• Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
• Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

Please note that third parties (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies.

You block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.

Except for essential cookies, all cookies will expire after 30 days.

Accessibility Information

The owners of this website care that their website is accessible to all and welcomes visitors of all races, religions and abilities.

This page is to give you information on what aids this website offers for people with a disability. It also explains how the WC3 Accessibility Guidelines I.O and 2.O have been implemented on this site.

Using this website

• For those screen reader and non-mouse users, please use the ‘jump’ menus provided to skip straight to the content, navigation and/or site map
• Please use the text variations provided;
  • ‘Standard text’ will provide a 12px equivalent version on most browsers and hide accessibility elements
  • ‘Large text’ will provide a 24px equivalent version on most browsers and hide accessibility elements
  • ‘Easy Read’ will provide a low simple contrast version, using standard text size on a pale yellow background to aid legibility which is often helpful for users with dyslexia
  • ‘No Style’ will strip off all our styles and provide a plain text, linear version
  • To resize the text without our help:
    • In Internet Explorer: View > Text size > Largest
    • In Firefox: View > Text size > Increase
    • In Opera: File > Preferences > Fonts > Minimum font size (pixels)
    • Alternatively, scroll with the wheel of your mouse whilst holding down the control key.
    • To use the keyboard instead of the mouse;
      • Use the Tab key to move and browse amongst the menus and links.
      • Pressing ‘Enter’ is the same as clicking a mouse
      • Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move up or down the page or from left to right.
• All images contain an ALT tag unless decorative, where they are marked as empty.
• Links make sense out of context. Wherever possible, title tags have also been used to expand on their meaning.
• Drop down menu bars are sometimes used. Please select a category and click (or press ‘Enter’) on the option you wish to view. If your system does not support drop-down menus, please use the site map link for quick and easy browsing
• Most of our sites have ‘breadcrumbs’ on the top of each page which allow you to retrace your steps and go back to where you started. However, older sites may not have this facility so you may need to use the ‘Back’ button on your browser. Back buttons are usually on the top left hand corner of your browser. By simply clicking on this button you can retrace your steps through the pages you have already viewed on our website. Some keyboards also have a Back Button as part of their options.

General Accessibility.

• This website conforms to the WCAG 2.0 four principles of accessibility and so is: perceivable, operable, understandable and robust
• The original designers, Access by Design, have considered the full range of techniques, including the advisory techniques, as well as to seeking relevant advice about current best practice to ensure that this web content is accessible, as far as possible, to all communities.
• This website has been thoroughly tested on multiple browsers, platforms and devices
• This website has been tested using multiple automated accessibility testing software
• This website has been tested by a REAL person with a disability who tested the website and submitted a report to the original designers who then used it to improve accessibility further.

Web Standards

• All CSS and XHTML created by this website validate to the document type.
  Validation does not equal accessibility.
• If a page on this website does not validate it is almost always because a third-party ‘plug-in’ has needed to be employed.
• Although we try to use only accessible third-parties and we alert designers to accessibility issues, rectifying them is beyond our control
• We reserve the right to use the web standards CSS and XHML buttons on this website as all elements within our control validate correctly.

Please Note: although this website was designed and built by a company specialising in accessible websites, it is run by us. We are not experts on web accessibility ourselves and sometimes mistakes can happen. If you find an accessibility error, please alert us as soon as possible, using the contact email address on this website, telling us the nature of the problem so that we can fix it.

Further Help

You may wish to download “Browsealoud”. This is a FREE speech reader that enables you to listen rather than read our website. Browsealoud may be helpful to people with dyslexia, those who find reading difficult, those who have a mild visual impairment or those who just like to do more than one thing at a time!

• Please follow this link to download Browsealoud onto your computer or select the image above.

WC3 WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 and W.A.G 2.0

To be considered to be Priority 1 (A) standard a website should meet all of the following points.

• This website provides a text equivalent for every non-text element (e.g., via “alt”, “longdesc”, or in element content). This includes: images, graphical representations of text (including symbols), image map regions, animations (e.g., animated GIFs), applets and programmatic objects, ascii art, frames, scripts, images used as list bullets, spacers, graphical buttons, sounds (played with or without user interaction), stand-alone audio files, audio tracks of video, and video. (1.0)
• This website provides text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language.
• This website ensures that all information conveyed with colour is also available without colour, for example from context or markup. (1.0)
• This website clearly identifies changes in the natural language of a document’s text and any text equivalents (e.g., captions). (1.0)
• This website may be read without style sheets; when an HTML document is rendered without associated style sheets, it is still be possible to read the document. (1.0)
• This website ensures that equivalents for dynamic content are updated when the dynamic content changes. (1.0)
• This website avoids causing the screen to flicker. (1.0)
• This website uses the clearest and simplest language appropriate for its content.
• This website does not use image maps(1.0)
• This website does not use tables(1.0)
• This website does not use frames(1.0)
• This websitedoes not use multimedia(1.0)
  • This website has 1 area that is sadly, still inaccessible to some users. (1.0)
    • After our best efforts, we have not been able to create an accessible page for the Social Networking buttons. Please see the bottom of this page for alternatives.
    • Pages on this website are still usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is not possible, this website provides equivalent information on an alternative accessible page. (1.0)
    • Programmatic elements such as scripts are directly accessible and compatible with assistive technologies (1.0)

This website passes Priority 1 (A) Accessibility.

Priority 2 checkpoints

To be considered to be Priority 2 (AA) standard, a website should meet all of the following points;

• This website ensures that the foreground and background colour combinations in images provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having colour deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen. (1.0)
• When an appropriate markup language exists, this website uses usesmarkup rather than images to convey information. (1.0)
• This website documents validate to published formal grammars. (1.0)
• This website uses style sheets to control layout and presentation. (1.0)
• This website uses relative rather than absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values. (1.0)
• This website uses header elements to convey document structure and uses them according to specification. (1.0)
• This website marks up lists and list items properly. (1.0)
• This website marks up quotations and does not use quotation markup for formatting effects such as indentation. (1.0)
  This website ensures that dynamic content is accessible (or provides an alternative presentation or page only when no other option is possible). (1.0)
• Until user agents allow users to control blinking, this website avoids causing content to blink (i.e., change presentation at a regular rate, such as turning on and off). (1.0)
• Until user agents provide the ability to stop the refresh, this website does not use periodically auto-refreshing pages. (1.0)
• Until user agents provide the ability to stop auto-redirect, this website does not use markup to redirect pages automatically. (If redirects are needed they are configures via the server) (1.0)
• Until user agents allow users to turn off spawned windows, this website does not cause pop-ups or other windows to appear and does not change the current window without informing the user. (1.0)

Please note: this website uses ‘highslide’, a JavaScript technique to give the appearance of a pop-up window to preview links or content. However, highslide is NOT a pop-up, the JavaScript can be disabled (and the link will still work) and is for graphic purposes only.

• The website uses W3C technologies when they are available and appropriate for a task and uses the latest versions when supported. (1.0)
• This website avoids deprecated features of W3C technologies. (1.0)
• This website divides large blocks of information into more manageable groups where natural and appropriate. (1.0)
• This website does not identify the target of each link because it is written in XHTML 1.0 Strict
• This website provides metadata to add semantic information to pages and sites. (1.0)
• This website provides information about the general layout of a site (e.g., a site map). (1.0)
• This website uses navigation mechanisms in a consistent manner. (1.0)
• Tables are not used for layout. (1.0)
• Until user agents support explicit associations between labels and form controls, all form controls are combined with implicitly associated labels and the label is properly positioned. (1.0)
• Form labels are explicitly associated with their controls. (1.0)
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The importance of specialist representation when facing prosecution in road traffic cases. Two case studies.

CASE STUDY 1

I was consulted by H who was charged with one count of careless driving. The proceedings were initiated by Hampshire Constabulary (“the Police”) and prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service (“the CPS”).

H was a young probationary driver who was involved in a single vehicle accident where, due to excessive acceleration from a standing start at traffic lights, he lost control of the vehicle and ended up in a ditch. H had a clean driving licence and the Police offered H the opportunity of attending a Safe and Considerate Driving Course (“SCDC”) as an alternative to a prosecution for careless driving. Unfortunately, the letter from the Police offering the SCDC erroneously referred to the date for completion as being the date of the accident which, of course, pre-dated the offer. H, who is dyslexic, misconstrued the completion date as relating to the following year and did not take action in time to avail himself of the offer. H ended up before the Aldershot Magistrates’ Court for trial facing one count of careless driving. As H was a probationary driver, if convicted and sentenced to 6 or more penalty points, H was at risk of revocation of his driving licence entitlement pursuant to the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995.

Before I was instructed H had entered a not guilty plea and a trial date had been fixed. Upon being instructed in the case I wrote to the CPS making detailed representations in a 6-page letter urging the CPS to discontinue the case on public interest grounds including a proposal that the discontinuance could be made conditional upon the SCDC first being completed. The Police had already repeatedly apologised in earlier correspondence with H’s mother for the error in the offer letter but despite these apologies refused to countenance the reoffer of the SCDC stating that there have been incidents where drivers have been unable to complete a course for other reasons such as lack of availability and they are not given an opportunity to take the course on another occasion after the statutory limitation period has expired. The reasoning of the Police went on to say that such courses are offered at the discretion of the Police and are by “no means a given” as the driver does not have the right to complete the SCDC.

In light of the Police refusal to reoffer the SCDC the CPS went on to consider the public interest test and decided that it was in the public interest to proceed with the case against H. Pursuant to my advice H applied for the stay of the proceedings on abuse of process grounds on the basis that H had been given an expectation that he would not be prosecuted and that it was manifestly unfair that H faced proceedings.

Following an exchange of Skeleton Arguments with the CPS containing legal argument I advised H to abandon the abuse of process application and to change plea to guilty thereby placing all of the emphasis on the mitigation. During the sentencing exercise, which came before District Judge Pattinson (“the DJ”) at Aldershot Magistrates’ Court, the CPS submitted that the sentencing of H came within category 2 of the Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Guidelines for careless driving matters. A category 2 case involves a starting point of a fine in keeping with a defendant’s means equivalent to one week’s net income after deductions of income tax and national insurance coupled with endorsement of the driving licence with 5 to 6 penalty points. The CPS in their Skeleton Argument had submitted that H’s case came within category 1 which involves a starting point of a fine in keeping with a defendant’s means equivalent to one-and-a-half-weeks’ net income after deductions of income tax and national insurance coupled with consideration of a disqualification or endorsement of the driving licence with 7 to 9 penalty points.

I mitigated at length on H’s behalf emphasising the history of the matter and, in particular, the offer of the SCDC by the Police in a letter with the erroneous completion date details. I urged the DJ to place H in category 3 for sentencing purposes the starting point of which would be  a fine in keeping with a defendant’s means equivalent to half-a-week’s net income after deductions of income tax and national insurance coupled with endorsement of the driving licence with 3 to 4 penalty points.

The DJ readily took on board the mitigation and described the matter as “a very unusual case”. The DJ observed that in all likelihood H would have completed the SCDC and would not have been before the court had there not been an error in the letter as to the completion date of the SCDC. The DJ expressly took into account the fact that there had been a guilty plea and took account of the “very unfortunate background” to the case. The DJ imposed a low fine, no prosecution costs and endorsed the licence with only 3 penalty points. The DJ expressly stated in sentencing that he was approaching the case akin to a fixed penalty case where the fixed penalty had not been accepted for good reason.

The sentence imposed by the DJ meant that H avoided becoming subject to the new driver revocation provisions and saved his driving licence entitlement. This case demonstrates the need to seek specialist legal advice when facing an allegation of careless driving.

CASE STUDY 2

I was consulted by S who was charged with one count of speeding. The proceedings were initiated by Kent Police (“the Police”) and prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service (“the CPS”).

S was alleged to have been driving at a speed of 46 mph along a section of a restricted road subject to a 30 mph speed limit.  The speed reading was generated by a Home Office approved laser speed measuring device. S took issue with the accuracy of the speed measurement. Pursuant to my advice S tendered a not guilty plea and in doing so expressly took issue with the accuracy of the speed reading. Furthermore, the prosecutor was put to proof of the status of the road at the enforcement site and a request was made for production of any road traffic regulation order which imposed the alleged speed limit. S believed that the section of road had previously been subject to a higher limit of speed than 30 mph.

The court fixed a trial date at Medway Magistrates’ Court. S had 9 penalty points on his licence for sentencing purposes and, if convicted, S would have been liable to a “totting-up” disqualification of at least 6 months. I advised S how to prepare his mitigation in terms of “exceptional hardship” for the purposes of section 35(1) and (4) of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. As part of that preparation and pursuant to my advice S undertook an intensive road risk and behaviour training course and the course provider supplied a detailed report for the use of the court in the event of a conviction being imposed.

When the matter came before the justices for trial the prosecution witnesses had not been warned to attend the trial. I was able to persuade the CPS in all the circumstances not to seek an adjournment. The CPS offered no evidence against S and the speeding charge was dismissed. A defence costs order was made in S’s favour. The acquittal of S meant that his licence entitlement was no longer at risk in terms of a “totting-up” disqualification.

This case demonstrates the need to seek specialist legal advice when facing an allegation of speeding.

Tel: 01489 573473, Mob: 07970 216593
Barry Culshaw is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under SRA number 62582 whose rules can be accessed via www.sra.org.uk.