I am noticing an increase in the number of people who call me with genuine defences to Road Traffic Offences who plead guilty because they cannot afford to defend the matter. Before October of last year the government accepted the old principle of English Law that the “loser pays”. If you successfully defended yourself against the State then you would get the costs you incurred in doing so back. Since October you can only recover at Legal aid rates-that is about a third of the average hourly rate of a private practitioner! I am having to advise clients that I think they have a great chance of defending themselves if they instruct me but that a victory will still leave them several hundred pounds out of pocket. How this can be deemed fair by the authorities is beyond me. Isn’t it worrying that people can plead guilty to offences they didn’t commit just because they can’t afford not to?”