The Matter:
Did drive over the middle alcohol limit but not over the high alcohol limit – Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995 Section 79(1F) and s87 (Work Licence).
Court Attended:
Coolangatta Magistrates Court
Attendance Date:
February 2019
Overview of Case:
Our client was charged with the offence of driving with a Blood Alcohol content (BAC) of 0.112%. This falls under Section 79(1F) of the Transport Operations Act. This offence, for a first-time offence of a like nature within 5 years, holds a maximum penalty of 20 penalty units or 6 months imprisonment. This matter proceeds in summary jurisdiction. Along with penalty, persons charged with this offence must be disqualified for a period of time. For a first offence within 5 years, the disqualification period ranges between 3 months to 12 months.
Outcome:
Our client was a Tradie and required their licence for work. If they lost their licence, they would lose their employment and be placed in a position of severe financial hardship. Due to this, we explored whether he was eligible to apply for a work licence. Our client met the criteria making him eligible to apply for a licence.
We provided our client a detailed list of preparations to complete prior to finalizing the matter in court. This included things like counselling, traffic offender courses, and references. Our client completed their preparations as suggested.
Upon sentence and application for work licence, the Magistrate heard submissions and read through the material we drafted on behalf of our client. After successful submissions made by Defence, our client received an appropriate fine and short disqualification with a work licence. This was an excellent result.
If you are facing drink driving matters and require your licence, please contact us to obtain legal advice catered to your situation.
