Middle Class Drivers to Lose Legal Aid

Daily Mail, 23rd May 05
By Steve Doughty, Social Affairs Correspondent

Middle-class drivers are to be stripped of the right to a free lawyer if they are in danger of losing their licences in the magistrates' courts. They will be the chief targets of a means test system that will deny taxpayer-funded legal aid to middle income earners.

Most of those who will have to pay for their defence or be forced to defend themselves will be motorists trying to keep their licences.

They will face bills for a defence solicitor in a magistrates' court which are likely to be £500 for an average hearing but could reach £1000 and more if a defendant hires a specialist barrister.

The great majority of the burglars, thieves, drug dealers and violent offenders accused in front of magistrates will continue to get lawyers paid for by the taxpayer.

Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer published details of the magistrates' courts means test yesterday as part of his campaign to restrain the Government's relentlessly rising £2.1billion-a-year legal aid bill.

The test will mean that anyone earning more than the national average of £27,500 a year will no longer get a publicly-funded lawyer.

The cutback will save the taxpayer only £35million a year, but it will affect 110,000 people. Those who stand to lose legal aid include defendants on careless driving and drink-driving charges, and those fighting more minor charges that would mean they lose their licence under the totting up procedure.

The move brought protests that drivers were once again being treated unfairly.

Tony Vickers, of the Association of British Drivers, said: “The Government has demonstrated that motorists are the bottom of the pile when it comes to respect and assistance from the state.”

At present anyone appearing before a magistrates court can ask for legal aid if they pass an ‘interests of justice' test. This allows a taxpayer-funded lawyer to anyone facing the prospect of a jail sentence, who cannot understand court proceedings, or who faces loss of their livelihood.

Under Lord Falconer's Criminal Defence Service Bill the means test will withdraw legal aid from anybody over 16 with an income of more than £27,500.

Those earning less that £15,000 will automatically get legal aid, while officials will examine the circumstances of those falling between the two income levels.

Most defendants in magistrates courts are young and either have low incomes or make money from crime that means tests cannot detect. By contrast, many drivers brought before the courts are middle-income earners whose assets are easily tracked.

No means test will apply to more serious Crown Court cases, where the interests of justice test will ensure defendants almost always get legal aid.

Legal Aid minister Bridget Prentice said it was important to cut back on legal aid in the criminal courts to save taxpayers' money to help the poor in the civil courts. She added: “We believe those who are charged with an offence and can afford to pay, should pay.”

Tory spokesman Oliver Heald said: “We need to ensure nothing endangers the quality of legal representation available to defendants.”