However, the court will not necessarily impose the maximum sentence available — it is simply an option open to them. Having said that, the courts do treat driving while disqualified very seriously and wish to deter others from breaking the law. Custodial sentences do happen, particularly for repeat offenders. It can be very hard to provide a complete defence to driving while disqualified, as it is likely that you knew what you were doing. Even so, it may be that you were not on public property, meaning that the charge cannot be upheld.
Or there may be a special reason for your actions. For example, you might have been fleeing from danger or responding to a medical emergency. If so, you may have had no option but to drive, despite your driving ban. There may also be other defences available. We will explore the best approach in your case, persuading the court that a custodial sentence is not appropriate in the circumstances. If you are convicted of driving while disqualified, the minimum penalty you can expect is six penalty points and a fine.
There may be very little time in between your arrest and your court appearance. Because of this, you might only have a short window of opportunity in which to secure legal representation.
It is therefore essential to act sooner, rather than later. You do not want to appear in front of the court without a solicitor by your side. Ideally, you will contact a solicitor as soon as you are arrested. The police will take away your mobile phone, but you are allowed a phone call at the police station. You are also entitled to free legal advice. If you say that you want to talk to a solicitor, then the police cannot interview you until this has happened.
It can be hard to know who to call, but take note: we defend clients accused of motoring offences, such as driving while disqualified. We have a specialist team of motor offence solicitors and we represent clients across England and Wales.
If you have been charged with a motoring offence, we can help you. We will recommend the best approach in your particular case, applying our legal expertise to secure a not guilty verdict, or a reduced sentence if a conviction is inevitable. In particular, we will take pains to argue for leniency, persuading the court to consider alternatives to a custodial sentence.
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Although any jail sentence that might be imposed may be short generally under 6 months the financial and emotional impact will be severe. We have had great success in the past convincing courts that the driver should not be sent to jail but instead should serve community service or that the jail sentence should be wholly suspended, often we have been able to convince the court to simply impose a fine and a further disqualification period without any further penalty. This is not the type of offence you should attempt to undertake on your own as very specific submissions need to be made to the court to avoid jail.
The court will impose a further disqualification of your licence, generally a further 2 years which is the minimum but it can be up to a further 5 years. We note that there seems to be some confusion as to the minimum disqualification period, although in New South Wales it is 1 year, in Queensland it is 2 years.
The courts will look at how long ago the previous disqualification occurred and what were the circumstances of this current offence in setting a penalty. It is not possible to apply for a work licence or special hardship licence or any other type of authorisation to drive if you are found guilty of disqualified driving, this is why its critical to try and get the minimum disqualification period.
People will sometimes enquire about a section 10 dismissal but this applies in New South Wales only not Queensland. In certain limited circumstances a defence of necessity or emergency may be available e. We have also acted for clients who have driven for reasons such as attending a chemist to obtain panadol for sick family and been able to have the police prosecution service drop the charges against our client.
We are one of the only law firms to have had this success. Other possible defences are you were not driving on a road, your disqualification had in fact ended or you were having to drive under duress for example fleeing violence. If you engage us we will check your circumstances to ensure any possible defence is explored. We have an article on this topic that you might find interesting click here to read the article.
The best thing is obviously to engage an experienced traffic lawyer to act for you. Other things you can look to do is obtaining character references, where appropriate medical reports and completing the QTOP course. Yes, do not attempt to represent yourself in the court on a disqualified driving especially if this is not your first disqualified driving charge as the risk of a jail is too high.
It is, the charge is one of the leading reasons people charged with a traffic offence go to prison. Engaging us gives you the best chance at obtaining the lowest disqualification period avoiding a jail sentence if this is not your first offence. We are the leading traffic law firm in South East Queensland and have helped hundreds of people charged with disqualified driving. We appear every week in the courts with people charged with disqualified driving, it is this experience that allows us to get the best result for clients.
Just some of the benefits of us acting for you include;. Just some of the courts we appear in for disqualified driving charges are;. Gold Coast. We have offices in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coasts as well as Brendale, Ipswich and Loganholme but in most cases we can handle everything by email and the phone without you ever having to come into our office.
Note: When disqualification is an automatic penalty for a particular offence, the judge can still decide to not disqualify you if there are special reasons relating to the offence. Land Transport Act , ss 81, Land Transport Act , ss 5 1 c , Land Transport Act , ss 5, 82A, Even when your disqualification period has ended, you still have to get your licence back before you can drive again.
Land Transport Act , ss 92, This can be in addition to any other penalties that apply to that offence. The information in this section is an online version of our highly useful resource The Community Law Manual. Community Law Centres across Aotearoa are operating remotely.
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