All Costs Judges are prepared to hear criminal appeals by telephone or video link, especially where the sums involved are small or disproportionate to the costs of travel to London. Requests for any such hearing should be made to the Clerk of Appeals when lodging the appeal. Telephone appeals can usually be listed quite quickly but video appeals take longer because of pressure on the limited video facilities in the RCJ.

Telephone hearings should be set up and recorded in the same way as a telephone hearing under the Civil Procedure Rules (see CPR Practice Direction 23A Part 6). Any appellant who wishes to arrange a telephone hearing must comply with the steps set out in the guidance note, ‘Criminal Costs Appeals in the SCCO – Telephone Hearings’, which can be obtained from the SCCO Clerk of Appeals.