The minimum disqualification period will be increased to 3 years if within 10 years preceding the commission of the drink driving offence they have been convicted of any of the following offences:. They will then refer to Magistrates Sentencing Guidelines which offers guidance in the form of recommended disqualification periods for drink driving offences.
The disqualification periods recommended by guidelines increase in line with the level of alcohol that was detected in an offenders system when they committed the drink driving offence. The higher the level of alcohol that was in an offenders system at the time they committed the drink driving offence, the longer the driving disqualification will be. A drink driving ban can be very lengthy if an offender has previous disqualifications and convictions or had a high level of alcohol in their system when they committed the offence.
Any special reason put forward to the court asking them not to endorse or disqualify must relate directly to the commission of the drink driving offence. Personal circumstances such as loss of job, income or home due to being disqualified or family members who rely on a person driving will not amount to special reasons.
As well as that general disqualification power, disqualification is an optional penalty for many driving offences, while for a number of more serious offences the judge has to disqualify you automatically. 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. The police can also immediately disqualify your licence if you are charged with certain drink or drug driving offences.
This means that you are not allowed to drive for the period of time that the court tells you. You are also not allowed to apply for a licence during that time. Disqualification is similar to being 'suspended' from driving. Once the disqualification ends, you are normally able to drive again using your current licence. Cancellation of licence means that your licence is no longer valid, even once a disqualification has finished.
In order to be able to drive again, you need to apply for a new licence. You can find our more about the process of applying for a new licence from the Department of Transport website. If you are convicted of certain traffic offences, your licence can also be automatically cancelled. Before you can re-apply for a licence, you will need to wait until any period of licence disqualification or suspension has finished.
You should be aware that cancellation is done by the Department of Transport. Your licence can be cancelled, even if the magistrate or court only imposed a licence disqualification and did not mention cancellation.
If you are P-plater, your licence can be automatically cancelled when you are convicted of some offences, or if your licence is under a demerit point suspension. This is sometimes called 'fines suspension', to make it clear that it is different to a demerit point suspension or licence disqualification from a court. If you have a Licence Suspension Order, it can be complicated to work out when you can drive again if your licence is also disqualified by a court. No, in most cases your disqualification will not run while you are in prison.
However it depends on the date you were disqualified and the law you were disqualified under.
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