Our client was charged with a Low Range PCA. His blood alcohol concentration was 0.075, falling just under the Mid Range limit of 0.08. Our client faced a possible criminal record, heavy fines and an automatic period of disqualification for 6 months.

Our client had a mortgage and worked as a sales representative for IBM where he is required to travel independently as a condition of his employment. He had a good driving record, this being his first major traffic offence.

He completed the Traffic Offenders Program with outstanding completion of his written assignments.

In late 2012 we appeared before Magistrate Spence at Fairfield Local Court. His Honour described our client’s participation and assignments in the Traffic Offenders Program as “Excellent”.

After careful persuasion, his Honour reluctantly ordered a Section 10(1)(b) bond for a period of 12 months.

Our client continues to work as a sales representative, without a penalty or criminal record.

Our client a fully qualified licence holder was charged with driving a motor vehicle with an illicit drug present in his blood. This is a fairly serious charge which carries with it an automatic 6 months licence disqualification.

The client sought our assistance in this matter, however the prospects of a section 10 bond being awarded were slim as the client had previously been granted a section 10 bond in 2012 for a possession of drugs charge.

The matter was heard before Magistrate Goodwin at the Downing Centre Local Court after strong submissions from our solicitor Lemar who argued that our client needed his licence in order to keep seeing his children who he had custody over every Wednesday and every second weekend and that this was not an event that was likely to occur again, as according to our client he had just left a seven year relationship and had simply handled it the wrong way.

Upon hearing the submissions from our solicitor, magistrate Goodwin decided that taking away the ability of our client to look after and spend time with his children was paramount and gave our client a second section 10 twelve month bond in the last 3 years.

The best possible result for our client.

Our client was charged with negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm. It was alleged that our client had driven through an intersection without giving way to a motorcycle.

As a result the motorcycle collided with our clients’ vehicle. The victim suffered a number of injuries including abrasions and soft tissue injuries.

One of our solicitors was of the view that the injuries suffered by the victim did not amount to grievous bodily harm.

Our solicitor made representation to the police that our client will plead guilty to an amended charge of negligent driving which attracts lesser penalties.

On the day of the Hearing at Waverly Local Court, after extensive negotiations between the parties, the prosecutor agreed to amend the charge to only negligent driving.

Our client pleaded guilty to negligent driving and was placed on a Section 10 good behaviour bond. This meant that a criminal conviction was not recorded providing our client complies with the bond for 12 months.

An excellent result for our client who remains without a criminal record.

Our client was on his probation licence, after losing 12 points during the 3 year period. He elected to keep his licence with a good behaviour point instead of the 3 months suspension that followed the loss of 12 points. A loss of further points in 12 months would have lead to an automatic suspension of 6 months. During the 12 months he was caught driving whilst using a hand held phone.

This meant that he was facing a suspension of 6 months following conviction for the offence of using a hand held phone whilst driving. He instructed us to make an election to have the matter heard at court, attempting to convince the court that the matter should be dealt with by way of a section 10.

His matter was eventually heard at Bankstown Local Court in March 2012. By that time Joe of our office had built a strong case to argue that the matter should be dealt with by a section 10. Joe enrolled our client into a driver education course, rounded up character witnesses, and documentary evidence of a compelling need for licence on behalf of our client.

When the matter came before Magistrate Goodwin of Bankstown Local Court, Joe came with a powerful argument for a section 10. The magistrate agreed.

Our client continues to work as a courier in Sydney.

Our client was charged with drive unlicensed, use unregistered motor vehicle and use uninsured motor vehicle.

He was an aircraft engineer and desperately needed to maintain his clean record as his job required him to travel to very strict Middle Eastern countries.

Our lawyer appeared before Local Court Magistrate Mijovich at Liverpool and made submissions that he had no criminal record, significant family commitments and the detrimental effect a conviction would have on his employment.

Ultimately, His Honour gave our client a Section 10 with no further penalty. The client was very happy with the result.

Our client was charged with drive whilst disqualified. This offence carries a minimum 24 months disqualification period on top of the disqualification period already served.

Our client had a month left on his disqualification period.

It was always going to be tough to get a Section 10, unless there were extenuating circumstances.

Our solicitor drafted affidavits for the client as well as his sister describing the very urgent situation which caused our client to drive.

Our solicitor made strong submissions for our client before Magistrate Van Zuylen at Blacktown Local Court explaining what caused our client to drive, attesting to his good character and the fact that there were no other breaches of the court imposed disqualification.

His Honour dealt with the matter by way of a Section 10 bond which meant that no action was taken on the driving, allowing our client to obtain his license once the disqualification period ended.

The client was extremely happy with the extraordinary result.

Our client was charged with drive whilst disqualified. This offence carries a minimum 12 months disqualification period on top of the disqualification period already served.

Our client had a month left on his disqualification period. It was always going to be tough to get a Section 10, unless there were extenuating circumstances. Our solicitor drafted affidavits for the client as well as his sister describing the very urgent situation which caused our client to drive.

Our solicitor made strong submissions for our client before Magistrate Van Zuylen at Blacktown Local Court, explaining what caused our client to drive, attesting to his good character and the fact that there were no other breaches of the court imposed disqualification. His Honour dealt with the matter by way of a Section 10 bond which meant that no action was taken on the driving, allowing our client to obtain his license once the disqualification period ended.

The client was extremely happy with the result.

Our client was a P1 driver who was charged with low range PCA. Magistrates are particularly tough on P-Platers and a Section 10 was always going to be a tough ask.

Our lawyer appeared before Local Court Magistrate Longley at Burwood Local Court and made strong submissions that a conviction for our client would lead to loss of his employment as a formwork operator, which would mean cancellation of his working visa and potential deportation.

His Honour was convinced by these compelling submissions and somewhat reluctantly imposed a Section 10 bond.

An excellent result for our client.

Our client was charged with a mid-range PCA offence. Her reading was 0.081.

We assisted our client to enter the traffic offenders program which she completed before her sentence date. Our solicitor also guided our client through obtaining character references and writing her letter of apology. Our client has undertaken a considerable amount of charitable work which was reflected in her outstanding character references.

The matter was before Her Honour Magistrate Farnan at Waverley Local Court.

Our solicitor put forward the argument that our client’s low reading for the mid-range, albeit a serious reading, meant that she had served an adequate sentence of 2 month off the road between the time the offence was committed and that day of the sentencing. Having regard this and our clients impeccable character and driving record, Her Honour dealt with our client by way of a section 10.

This was an excellent result for our client.

Our client was an Uber driver with his own car. He also had a traffic authority and had been accredited through studies.

Late at night he picked up two passengers, upon them entering he turned to check if they had their seatbelts on. He asked them “do you have seatbelts?” and received an affirmative answer.

Later he was then stopped for a random breath test. Upon being stopped the police saw the passengers without their seatbelts on, because of this our client was fined and received 6 demerit points.

The two passengers then failed to keep their seatbelts on a further time and our client asked for them to get out of the vehicle. During court three points were argued:

The first was a legal issue about whether, as an Uber driver, he fell within the definition of a taxi driver at the time (this was before the recent legislation about ride sharing businesses, which formally legalised UBER).

The second was whether he had an argument about an honest and reasonable mistake of fact about his status as a private hire vehicle, and if so genuinely believed that it made him exempt from ensuring passengers above the age 16 have their seatbelts on.

The third, which was ultimately what won our client’s case, was whether he made an honest and reasonable mistake – that the two passengers had continued to wear their seatbelts.

The court found that he was a credible witness and had checked to see if the passengers had their seatbelts on when they came into the car and, because of the short journey before he was stopped, he had made an honest and reasonable mistake of fact – being that his passengers continued to wear their seatbelts once they had put them on.

The Court did not find that our client, at the time he was stopped, fell within the meaning of the act for a private hire vehicle, as a private hire vehicle would need to be licenced with the RMS as a private hire vehicle. Our client was using his own car.

This was an excellent result for our client.

Our client held a P2 licence and was suspended by RMS for 3 months for demerit points. Our client opted for an appeal due to the nature of his job. Fairfield Court saw fit to reduce the disqualification to only one month and delay it’s commencement for 4 months to allow him to finish the probationary period of his job so he didn’t lose his employment.