Answered 24 hours, every day

Say nothing until we get there.

If you or somebody you know has been arrested, the number below is answered by a duty solicitor at any hour. You are entitled to legal advice before you are questioned — ask for a solicitor, and wait for one. Police-station advice is free to you in many places whatever you earn, and where a cost applies we tell you before anything is charged.

Call the 24-hour line What to do right now

24-hour lineCall now

What to do in the next ten minutes

Ask for a solicitor

Out loud, and again if you're asked a second time. The request has to be recorded, and questioning should stop until one has been arranged.

Say nothing else

Not an explanation, not a denial, not "I'll just clear this up". It is not rudeness and it is not an admission — it is the single most useful thing you can do right now.

Sign nothing

Not a statement, not a form you are told is routine. Wait for somebody whose job is to read it properly on your behalf.

Tell one person where you are

You are usually allowed to have somebody informed. Use it, and ask them to ring this number for you.

All four of those are free, none of them requires us, and they matter more in the first hour than anything else on this page.

We don't ask whether you did it

Not at the police station, and not afterwards. It isn't our question, and the answer wouldn't change the work — which is to make sure the case against you is tested properly and that you are treated the way the rules say you must be.

Who has to prove it — The prosecution. Not you, and never by your silence
Who decides the charge — The prosecutor, on the evidence they actually hold
Who decides the case — A court — magistrates, a judge, or a jury. Never a solicitor
What we decide — Nothing whatever about your guilt. Only how the case gets challenged

People often delay ringing because they feel they have to explain themselves first. You don't. Ring, and explain nothing to anybody until somebody is sitting beside you.

What we do

Police station attendance

Any hour, anywhere in the area, and we come to you rather than asking you to travel to us.

Interviews and voluntary attendance

"Just a chat, you're not under arrest" is still an interview and you are still entitled to advice at it. Don't go alone.

Court hearings

First appearance through to trial — including the bail application, which is a day-one job rather than a later one.

Motoring and licences

Where a licence is a livelihood, the hearing deserves preparing properly rather than turning up and hoping.

What it costs

The first phone call — Free, at any hour, whoever you are
At the police station — Free to you in many places whatever you earn. We check and say before anything
Legal aid for a case — Possible — and the legal-aid body decides it, not us and not you
Where legal aid doesn't apply — A fixed fee per stage, agreed in writing before that stage begins
What we never do — Take a share of anything, or charge you for asking whether we can help
If you can't pay — Say so early. There is nearly always a way to stage it, and saying so never changes the advice

Not an emergency? Ask for a call back

★★★★★

“Answered at ten past two in the morning by a person rather than a service. He was there before they started asking me anything at all.”

Anonymous

By request

★★★★★

“Nobody made me feel that the worst thing that had happened was who I am. They explained every step twice, because I wasn't taking it in the first time.”

J.

By request

Not an emergency? Ask for a call back

If nobody is in custody right now, this is the calmer way in. If somebody is, use the number instead — it is answered at any hour.

Ask for a call back

We use only the method you choose, and we say nothing about who we are when we call unless you have told us we can.

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