If you ever have any concerns about the service you are receiving from our entity or any person within it the best way to resolve it early is to send an email to info@motoringbarristerdirect.co.uk and we will get back to you within 48 hours with some assistance and, hopefully, a resolution.

Initially we hope that any concerns raised can be dealt with directly by us through open and direct communication.

Although we hope our clients never have cause to use it, we also have a very simple and thorough complaints procedure in place to ensure that any concerns get dealt with quickly, proportionately and appropriately. The procedure is as follows:

1. If a quick email won’t help you resolve your concerns then it is likely that you have what we call “a substantive complaint”. Any substantive complaint received by the entity should be directed to the Managing Director together with all supporting documentation.

2. A substantive complaint is one which is about a matter which covers negligence, incompetence or a significant shortfall in the level of service our clients are entitled to expect. It may be in writing, by email, by fax or by telephone.

The address for complaints is:
Bridgewater Legal Limited
5 Bleasefell Chase
Worsley
Manchester
M28 1UZ

Or they can be emailed to the managing director at info@landlorddoctors.co.uk.

3. All complaints will be acknowledged, preferably in writing, within 72 hours of receipt.

4. You will also be advised when a full reply will follow, which should usually be within 28 days.

5. In order to investigate complaints, this entity may disclose your personal data to relevant third parties, including witnesses and your instructing solicitors and employees of your instructing solicitors or any unregulated or regulated intermediary. Where you object to any data being disclosed to any particular person or class of person as part of the complaints investigation you are asked to identify that person at the very beginning of this process.

6. In resolving each complaint, the matter will be reviewed to assess the need for:-

Appropriate redress: as a goodwill measure for the client
Remedial Action: where the problem is not completely beyond correcting
Improvement Action: to look at the root cause of the problem and implement changes to prevent the problem from recurring.

7. So as to assist in our ability to investigate any complaint, we ask that complaints be made within 12 months of the incident from which the complaint arises. This is necessary because barristers do not necessarily retain the papers on a case, returning them to the instructing solicitor on completion of the case. Investigating complaints without the relevant files is a difficult (and can be an impossible) process. If a complaint is being made outside of this timescale complainants are asked to explain why there has been such delay. We reserve the right to refuse complaints that are more than 12 months old without any explanation or justification for that delay.

8. The existence of this procedure does not prohibit this entity from summarily setting aside unjustified complaints.

9. If a complainant is dissatisfied with the outcome of their complaint following investigation, or if their complaint has not been dealt with thin eight weeks, they have a right to refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. The Ombudsman will only consider complaints that have already been referred to Chambers and that have received an unsatisfactory response or outcome from us. The office of the Ombudsman can be contacted on 0300 555 0333 or you can write to: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ. Visit www.legalombudsman.org.uk for further information. Clients who have a right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman are individuals, small businesses and charities. You can find the full list of who is available to complain to the Legal Ombudsman here.

If you have any questions about this process please feel free to contact your local chambers or to email info@motoringbarristerdirect.co.uk. We are happy to give you impartial advice on accessing this process.