West Fife is commuter country, and that is what makes a disqualification expensive here. Tens of thousands of people cross the Forth for work every day, and thousands more travel to Rosyth, to the distribution sites around Halbeath or out to Grangemouth and Stirling. Lose a licence in Dunfermline and the question is not how you get about at the weekend — it is whether you can still hold down the job. Charles Ferguson Solicitors defend motoring charges throughout west Fife from our Glasgow office at 20-23 Woodside Place, G3 7QL. Call 0141 345 5735 before you plead.
Dunfermline Sheriff Court — Road Traffic Cases
Motoring prosecutions from Dunfermline and west Fife are heard at Dunfermline Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court, Sheriff Court House, 1/6 Carnegie Drive, Dunfermline KY12 7HJ, in the Sheriffdom of Tayside, Central and Fife. Routine summary motoring business — speeding, careless driving, insurance and licence offences — is generally taken in the Justice of the Peace Court, while drink driving, dangerous driving and matters prosecuted on indictment call before a sheriff. Where a collision has caused a death, the charge of causing death by dangerous driving is prosecuted in the High Court of Justiciary. We appear across all of these courts.
Motoring Offences We Defend in Dunfermline
Drink Driving and Drug Driving — Scotland's limit of 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood is the lowest in the United Kingdom, and it catches a striking number of drivers on the way to an early shift rather than on the way home from a night out. We examine Intoximeter calibration and maintenance records, the procedure followed at the police station, and whether the hip flask defence is available. Dangerous Driving — conviction brings disqualification for at least 12 months and a compulsory extended retest, so whether the driving was dangerous or merely careless is regularly the decisive question. Careless Driving — a matter of degree, and frequently the correct charge where the Crown has pitched it too high. Speeding — the M90 and its junctions, the A985 coast road, the A907, the A823 and the approaches to the Queensferry Crossing are all enforced; we check device type approval and calibration and whether a Notice of Intended Prosecution was served within 14 days. Totting Up and Exceptional Hardship — at 12 penalty points the court must disqualify for at least 6 months unless exceptional hardship is proved on evidence. Driving Without Insurance — 6 to 8 penalty points or discretionary disqualification. Mobile Phone Offences — 6 penalty points. Driving While Disqualified — a charge that carries a real risk of custody.
Commuting, Clearance and the Cost of a Ban
Two things make west Fife distinctive. The first is the commute: the rail service is good on some routes and irrelevant on others, and shift patterns at Rosyth, at the Halbeath and Dunfermline distribution sites and in the care sector begin and end when nothing is running. The second is that a substantial local workforce holds security clearance or a vocational entitlement, so a motoring conviction can trigger an employer review or a Traffic Commissioner referral quite separately from the sentence. Both of those have to be put to the court properly if an exceptional hardship application is to succeed — with contracts, rotas, timetables and figures rather than assertion. Call 0141 345 5735 at any hour and ask us about Legal Aid.
Areas Served Across West Fife
We act for drivers charged anywhere in west Fife, including Dunfermline, Rosyth, Inverkeithing, North Queensferry, Dalgety Bay, Aberdour, Crossgates, Halbeath, Kelty, Cowdenbeath, Lochgelly, Oakley, Saline, Crossford, Cairneyhill, Torryburn, Culross and Kincardine. Charges commonly arise on the M90, the A907, the A823, the A985 and the Forth crossings. Call 0141 345 5735.