Livingston was built around a network of dual carriageways and roundabouts, and that layout produces a particular kind of motoring case. Roads that look like open highway carry urban speed limits, junctions arrive quickly, and drivers who know the town well are caught out as often as visitors. Add the M8 running along the north of the town and the result is a steady flow of speeding, careless driving and drink driving prosecutions. The fine is seldom the real problem. Penalty points, the insurance premium that follows and a disqualification that removes the commute are. Charles Ferguson Solicitors defend motoring charges throughout West Lothian from our Glasgow office at 20-23 Woodside Place, G3 7QL. Call 0141 345 5735.
Livingston Sheriff Court — Road Traffic Cases
Motoring prosecutions arising in Livingston are dealt with at Livingston Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court, West Lothian Civic Centre, Howden South Road, Livingston EH54 6FF, in the Sheriffdom of Lothian and Borders. Routine summary business — speeding, careless driving, insurance and licence offences — is generally taken in the Justice of the Peace Court, while drink driving, dangerous driving and cases 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. Unlike most of West Lothian, drivers charged in Livingston appear in their own town, which shortens the gap between charge and first calling.
Motoring Offences We Defend in Livingston
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 great many drivers the morning after rather than the night before. We examine Intoximeter calibration and maintenance records, the procedure followed at the police station, and whether the hip flask defence is open on the facts. 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 frequently the whole case. Careless Driving — a question of degree, and one worth arguing properly. Speeding — the A899, the A705, the A71 and the M8 and its junctions are all routinely 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 carrying a real risk of custody.
Dual Carriageways, Shift Work and Vocational Licences
The distributor roads that run through Livingston are the source of a great deal of the town's speeding business. A driver on a wide dual carriageway with no housing in sight will not necessarily register that the limit is 40, and a camera takes no view on whether the mistake was an understandable one. Beyond that, the town's employment makes a disqualification unusually costly: the distribution and industrial estates run on van and HGV drivers, St John's Hospital works shifts that start before the buses do, and a driver holding a vocational licence faces a Traffic Commissioner problem alongside the court outcome. An exceptional hardship application has to be evidenced properly — rotas, contracts, timetables and figures, not assertion. Call 0141 345 5735 and ask about Legal Aid.
Areas Served Across West Lothian
We act for drivers charged anywhere in West Lothian, including Livingston, Craigshill, Howden, Ladywell, Knightsridge, Deans, Dedridge, Murieston, Eliburn, Carmondean, Bellsquarry and Livingston Village, together with Bathgate, Broxburn, Uphall, Armadale, Whitburn, Blackburn, East Calder, Mid Calder, West Calder and Linlithgow. Charges commonly arise on the M8, the A71, the A705, the A89 and the A899. Call 0141 345 5735.