Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on Harefield Road is where a case that began at Heathrow usually has its first hearing. Drugs found in a suitcase, cash over the limit, a false passport, a passenger who became disruptive over the Atlantic, an assault in a terminal bar: the airport produces a stream of prosecutions that no other borough sees, investigated by Border Force, the airport's own police command and the Metropolitan Police, and criminal defence solicitors in Hillingdon have built their practices around it. Many clients are travelling, foreign or both, and a solicitor who can deal with interpreters, consulates and the immigration consequences of a conviction is essential.
The rest of the caseload is more ordinary. Hillingdon's roads, the M4, the M25, the A40 and the A312, generate speeding, drink and drug driving, mobile phone and insurance cases, and a totting-up disqualification is a serious matter for anyone whose job depends on reaching the airport at five in the morning. Assaults, domestic abuse allegations, drug supply, burglary and fraud follow, from Hayes and Uxbridge in particular. Cases too serious for the magistrates go to the Crown Court, usually Isleworth, and the youth court sits for under-18s.
At the police station the advice is free. Anyone arrested in Hillingdon, or interviewed voluntarily, can have a solicitor present whatever their income, and the decisions made in that interview, about answering questions, accepting a caution or saying nothing, shape the rest of the case. Legal aid continues at court for most defendants, means-tested in the magistrates' court and with possible contributions at the Crown Court; Uxbridge and Hayes have firms with contracts and duty solicitor rotas. Motoring and other private cases are usually fixed-fee.
Criminal defence firms covering Hillingdon are listed below, verified firms first. The explainer on criminal law, the general criminal law solicitors page and the guide to free legal help give the background; criminal law solicitors in Hounslow covers the Crown Court side of the airport.
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