The telephone advice service for people detained by police on less serious offences is giving a ‘shoddy service’ to some defendants arrested in breach of bail terms, a leading criminal lawyer has claimed.

Rodney Warren, director of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, said practitioners were beginning to see distinct problems with the Criminal Defence Service (CDS) Direct, which was rolled out nationally in February 2008.

‘Where a client is arrested in breach of their bail conditions and has a legal aid order, the matter should be dealt with by their own solicitor,’ said Warren.

He added the solicitor who had originally argued for the bail conditions, and was fully aware of the client’s history, was best placed to deal with the breach.

Where CDS Direct handles the matter, the solicitor may not even be informed that their client has been arrested.

Warren said: ‘Even though the intention is good, CDS Direct is performing a shoddy service in this respect, which is not in the interest of the client or the system generally.’

A Legal Services Commission spokesman denied the service was ‘shoddy’. John Sirodcar, head of direct services at the commission, said: ‘If the client says that a local solicitor has information which will lead to their release, and deploying the matter to private practice is the best way to get the client released, then we’ll do so.’