Over 50 years of combined experience

Success in Courts Australia-Wide

6 x Convenient Locations across Sydney and NSW

What Does It Mean To Drive While Disqualified?

Driving whilst disqualified is an offence committed by an individual who has driven a motor vehicle on a road or road-related area while their licence is disqualified. For example, if you are driving and have been disqualified from driving as a result of a drink driving conviction, then you will be charged for driving whilst disqualified. This offence is highlighted under section 54(1) of the Road Transport Act 2013.

Usually, a roadside police interview will be conducted to clarify your details and the eligibility of your driver’s licence. These answers may be written down or recorded by an officer’s body-worn camera. During this conversation, your answers may be used as evidence against you and can determine the outcome of your case in court.

Can I Apply For A New Drivers Licence While My Current Licence Is Disqualified?

No. Individuals who make an application for a new motor vehicle licence under a false name or fail to mention that their current licence is disqualified will receive penalties.

What Are The Penalties For Driving Whilst Disqualified?

Driving Whilst Disqualified penalties are dependent on the driver’s current driving record and subsequent offences. Penalties can range from a one-off fine, further license disqualification, or in major cases, imprisonment.

Penalty For Your First Offence

A first offence is considered when the individual charged has been convicted of driving while their current licence is suspended, cancelled or disqualified but within the previous five years has had no prior disqualification convictions or any other major offence.

The maximum penalty for a driving whist disqualified offence, which is your first major traffic offence within 5 years, is a fine of $3,300.00 and/or a maximum term of 6 months imprisonment.

Along with this, there is an automatic disqualification period of 6 months and a minimum disqualification period of 3 months. Commonly, these offences are dealt with pursuant to section 10 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act.

Penalty For Your Second Or Subsequent Offence Within 5 Years

A ‘second or subsequent offence’ is considered when the driver is convicted of driving while their current licence is suspended, cancelled or disqualified but within the previous five years has been convicted with a previous offence of disqualification or for any other major offence.

The maximum penalty for a driving whist disqualified offence, if it is your second or subsequent major offence within 5 years, is a fine of $5,500.00 and/or a maximum term of 12 months imprisonment. This includes an automatic disqualification period of 12 months with a minimum period of 6 months disqualification.

Can I Avoid Getting Charged?

Even after finding an accused individual guilty, the court can still make the decision not to record a criminal conviction under section 10 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999.

The following factors are considered when sentencing an offender under section 10:

  • The individual’s character, age, health and mental condition;
  • The trivial nature or severity of the offence;
  • The necessity of circumstances under which the offence was committed
  • Any other factors which the court notes as relevant to the case.

There are also ways to ensure you prove your growth of character and change to increase your chances of achieving a section 10. We suggest showing your utmost remorse and contrition for your actions, attending a Traffic Offenders Program and having a clear series of events regarding why you were driving at the time of the offence. Click here to find out more about section 10.

Our Traffic Lawyers have successfully represented clients who have been convicted of several drive whilst disqualified offences over a short period, ensuring that those clients were saved from serving any jail time for the offending.

Possible Defences To Driving A Motor Vehicle Whilst Suspended

  • You were not driving the car – The police must prove that it was you who committed the offence.
  • You were unaware of your disqualification – Honest and reasonable mistake of fact. A court must prove that you were aware of your suspension or disqualification.
  • Driving under necessity – If there was no alternative in an emergency situation you may be able to plea that driving whilst disqualified was a necessity.

Generally, penalties that a court can impose for any criminal offence in NSW are:

What Happens If I Get Caught Driving While Disqualified?

If you are caught driving whilst disqualified your license is suspended immediately. During this time you will be unable to drive unless granted permission by a court during the immediate suspension period. Our criminal law lawyers can assist in this application.

If you are convicted by a court your licence will be disqualified meaning you will be unable to drive a vehicle until the period of disqualification has expired and a licence is reissued. You will also be issued with a criminal conviction which will appear on your record.

What Are The Consequences Of Having A Criminal Conviction?

A Criminal Conviction against your name can have serious ramifications on your professional life and travel overseas.

In most professions, employers will conduct a background check on you with an additional police check to ensure your candidacy. A police check like this will reveal your criminal record and conviction history including Driving Whilst Disqualified. In some professions, employees are required to declare criminal convictions and report them to a regulatory body while actively working. In this case, you may be dismissed from employment.

Criminal convictions can also inhibit you from travelling overseas as most countries require tourists to obtain a visa prior to entering the country. Disclosing any past criminal activity or convictions is more than likely when applying for a visa. Depending on the country you are planning on travelling to, you may be denied entry.

How Can LY Lawyers Help You With Your Driving While Disqualified Case?

Our specialised traffic lawyers can assist you and will use their abundant experience and expertise to assist in finding you the best possible outcome. We have had many successful clients fighting against these types of charges. You can find examples of these cases below:

Our client was charged with her fifth driving while disqualified charge in only 3 years. She had a lengthy record for driving whilst disqualified and drink driving.

Usually, in these circumstances, the courts deal with these matters by way of a full-time custodial sentence.

In exploring reasons why our client developed a problem with alcohol, leading to her original disqualification imposed, our firm instructed a psychologist to prepare a report for the court.

The psychologists report outlined how our client’s personal circumstances and death in the family had impaired our client’s decision-making capacity.

The court accepted the medical evidence and dealt with this matter by imposing a term of imprisonment but suspended on a good behaviour bond pursuant to Section 12.

Our client was charged with his sixth driving while disqualified within an 8 year period. The client had previously been sentenced to full-time custody for six months for his last driving while disqualified.

There were extenuating circumstances why our client needed to drive on this occasion.

We appeared on behalf of our client at Campbelltown Local Court before Magistrate Guy.

Our court agreed with our submission that our client should be assessed for an intensive corrections order. The matter was adjourned for an intensive corrections order assessment.

Our client was found suitable for an intensive corrections order. The client was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 9 months to be served by way of an intensive corrections order.

Our client, amazingly, avoided a jail term.

Our client was charged with a low-range drink driving offence. He was advised by police to complete a ‘Notice of Pleading’ form and that the case would be dealt with by the Court in his absence.

His matter came before Kogarah Local Court where he was disqualified from driving for a period of 6 months and received a $600.00 fine. However, our client never received notice from the Court of these orders as he had been excused. Despite contacting the Court to confirm the outcome he was not notified of his licence disqualification or fine.

Unknowingly, our client drove without a licence and was charged with driving whilst disqualified.

At the hearing before the Downing Centre Local Court our solicitor made strong submissions that our client honestly did not know he had been disqualified from driving, that he had contacted the court and tendered evidence that the fine remained outstanding.

The Magistrate, albeit reluctantly, found our client not guilty due to an honest and reasonable mistake.

Our client was charged with his fifth driving whilst disqualified offence within an 8 year period. He had previously been sentenced to full-time custody for six months for his last driving whilst disqualified offence.

There were extenuating circumstances why our client needed to drive on this occasion. Our solicitor was successful in arguing that there was a good reason for our client to drive on this occasion which the Court accepted.

The Court agreed with our submission that our client should be assessed for an intensive corrections order.

The matter was adjourned for assessment.

Our client was found suitable following the assessment and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 9 months to be served by way of an intensive corrections order assessment at Campbelltown Local Court.

The client stayed out of full-time custody.

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.

Fourth DWD- Severity appeal to Parramatta District Court

Our client was sentenced at Liverpool Local Court in early 2014 for her 4th Drive Whilst Disqualified charge.

She was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment in the Local Court.

She then hired Adam from LY Lawyers to lodge a severity appeal at Parramatta District Court, in an attempt to keep her out of jail.

Our client was 5 months pregnant, had a good job, and was a productive member of our community.

The case appeared before Parramatta District Court before Delaney J. in early April 2014. After preparing an entirely new case for our client, the Judge agreed with us and allowed the appeal, handing our client a suspended sentence, in lieu of a sentence of full-time jail.

A deserved sentence.

Our client pleaded guilty to driving whilst disqualified. He was only 21 years old and had a poor driving record starting with speeding, driving whilst licence expired, drink driving, driving whilst licence cancelled. He also had additional driving whilst disqualified convictions and a number of driving whilst unregistered and uninsured offences.

Our client was looking at community service or worse.

The matter was heard before His Honour Magistrate Brydon at Manly Local Court.

Our solicitor argued that given the already lengthy period for which our client was already disqualified, the court should impose the minimum and automatic period of disqualification.

Additionally, our solicitor argued that given our client’s youth, being 21 years of age, a lengthy disqualification period was going to have a profound impact on his future, particularly in his chosen trade as an electrician.

Our solicitor was able to convince the court that this would more than likely be the final traffic offence on our client’s record as he had sold his car had undertaken the traffic offenders program.

Although our client had a complicated traffic history with multiple offences each year, His Honour found that our client could be adequately punished by imposing the minimum period of disqualification and a section 9 bond for 2 years.

This was a good result for our client. Especially given that all these offences occurred before he had even reached his green P plates.

Our client was charged with two driving whilst disqualified offences within a period of two weeks. Our client had 3 prior convictions for the same offence. Our client was facing the real possibility of a full-time custodial sentence. Our client had a significant problem with drug use.

The matter proceeded before Magistrate Hyatt at Mt Druitt Local Court. It was submitted on behalf of our client, that a full-time custody sentence would not adequately address our client’s drug use.

It was submitted that our client should be assessed for an intensive corrections order (ICO) which would not only address our clients rehabilitation but also adequately punish our client for his conduct. The court agreed and adjourned the matter for an ICO assessment.

Our client was found suitable for an ICO. The court imposed a term of imprisonment of four months but directed that it be served by way of an ICO order.

Our client was a 17-year-old P-plate driver charged with driving whilst disqualified. It was alleged that our client was seen driving on Christmas Day 2015. Police also indicated that there was CCTV footage of the incident. However, this footage was not obtained for the court hearing.

Our client denied the charge and his father was able to give his evidence to the effect that our client was with him at the time of the alleged incident.

The matter was heard at Liverpool local court before magistrate Walsh. Magistrate Walsh agreed with the submissions made by our solicitor and agreed that the supporting statements of the client’s father as well as the fact that the CCTV footage was not available made it impossible to uphold the charges on the client.

The case was dismissed and our client was able to keep his licence rather than facing a possible two-year automatic disqualification.

A breach of section 12 bonds is very serious and unless the breach is trivial the Court must revoke the bonds. Our client came to us having driven whilst disqualified. His traffic history was not large, however, he was in breach of five section 12 bonds, pursuant to the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999.

There was no particular excuse why our client had been driving whilst his licence was disqualified which afforded him a Defence. Our client was driving to the shop to get food for his children who he was looking after because his ex-partner was ill. He was stopped close to his home.

Driving whilst disqualified is a serious offence, our solicitor had to concede that the breach was not trivial. Our client had a history of domestic violence and breaching Apprehended Violence Orders which earned him the section 12 bonds.

The Pre Sentence Report did not help our client as he was found unsuitable for Community Service and therefore unsuitable for an Intensive Corrections Order. In Parramatta Local Court our solicitor made strong submissions to Magistrate Brown citing that our client deserved one last chance to avoid incarceration, Magistrate Brown agreed and had the bonds revoked and our client was given one last chance to remain out of custody by being sentenced to a Home Detention Order.

Our 22-Year-Old client came before Sutherland Court having an appalling driving record (including negligent driving). Having obtained his learner’s licence at the age of 16, his licence had been suspended on 3 separate occasions due to speeding offences. In this matter, our client had been charged for driving whilst disqualified.

Our client had provided numerous documents regarding the circumstances of his offending. Our experienced solicitor worked tirelessly to negotiate the police facts sheet and reduce our client’s culpability.

Our client successfully completed the traffic offender’s program. He also obtained numerous reference letters from his employer, mother, father and best friend.

Our dedicated solicitor prepared submissions and argued that although our client didn’t have the best driving record, he had a specific need for his licence and was apologetic for getting into his car and driving a very short distance due to a medical emergency.

Magistrate Trad took into account his personal circumstances and the fact that there were no aggravating factors regarding the offending.

Our client was facing a six-month court disqualification. Without proceeding to a conviction, the sentencing Magistrate placed our client on a good behaviour bond for 12 months. He was ecstatic with the effort and preparation put into his case by our dedicated solicitor.

Contact us for your FREE initial consultation.

Available at our Sydney CBD, Parramatta, Liverpool, Wollongong, Newcastle or Gosford office.

Book Your Free Consultation

“

Achieving results one case at a time

The team at LY Lawyers were great to deal with, after getting charged with a minor offence. The costs were upfront and affordable. Communication was great and I felt like they really cared about me. If I was ever in trouble again they would be my first point of call for help.

Sarah Davies

Ly Lawyers
5.0
2017-02-01T00:09:03+00:00

Sarah Davies

The team at LY Lawyers were great to deal with, after getting charged with a minor offence. The costs were upfront and affordable. Communication was great and I felt like they really cared about me. If I was ever in trouble again they would be my first point of call for help.

Achieving results one case at a time

What a result from a great team!

Adam handled my case and put everything he had into it. He's a great lawyer at affordable fees. Would highly recommend.

John L.

Ly Lawyers
5.0
2017-02-01T01:38:38+00:00

John L.

What a result from a great team! Adam handled my case and put everything he had into it. He's a great lawyer at affordable fees. Would highly recommend.

Achieving results one case at a time

Highly recommend! Joseph handled my case and got the result he said i would, communication was great and his advice on what to do to help my case was great, dont hesitate to give them a call if you ever need legal help.

Todd Hurring

Ly Lawyers
5.0
2017-06-25T22:46:32+00:00

Todd Hurring

Highly recommend! Joseph handled my case and got the result he said i would, communication was great and his advice on what to do to help my case was great, dont hesitate to give them a call if you ever need legal help.

Achieving results one case at a time

Want to say a big thanks to Adam and the team, was looking at jail without a doubt, already had 2 other common assaults, a GBH, and a fair few other charges on my record and facing another GBH. Never done jail before and thought this was my time for sure. Great service from them, Adam always answered my calls and step me through everything the whole way. Managed to stay out of jail with a ICO order, big win, thanks again, highly recommend

Breno T.

Ly Lawyers
5.0
2017-06-25T22:53:27+00:00

Breno T.

Want to say a big thanks to Adam and the team, was looking at jail without a doubt, already had 2 other common assaults, a GBH, and a fair few other charges on my record and facing another GBH. Never done jail before and thought this was my time for sure. Great service from them, Adam always answered my calls and step me through everything the whole way. Managed to stay out of jail with a ICO order, big win, thanks again, highly recommend

Achieving results one case at a time

I just wanted to say a big thank you to LY Lawyers. My husband just got his sentence at Parramatta District Court last week, expecting to be in jail a lot longer. He was charged with supplying commercial drugs. LY Lawyers represented him with great passion and commitment, all of their staff chipping in to get a short sentence. Only a year to go before he gets out!

Kim Smith

Ly Lawyers
5.0
2017-06-25T22:53:58+00:00

Kim Smith

I just wanted to say a big thank you to LY Lawyers. My husband just got his sentence at Parramatta District Court last week, expecting to be in jail a lot longer. He was charged with supplying commercial drugs. LY Lawyers represented him with great passion and commitment, all of their staff chipping in to get a short sentence. Only a year to go before he gets out!

Achieving results one case at a time

It was a pleasure to work with LY Lawyers. They got me off from my charge. Could not thank them enough!

William Song

Ly Lawyers
5.0
2017-06-25T22:54:34+00:00

William Song

It was a pleasure to work with LY Lawyers. They got me off from my charge. Could not thank them enough!

Achieving results one case at a time

Joseph was amazing and did a fine job representing me in my case. He got the job done and got me the result I wanted.

Habib Rahman

Ly Lawyers
5.0
2017-06-25T22:55:09+00:00

Habib Rahman

Joseph was amazing and did a fine job representing me in my case. He got the job done and got me the result I wanted.

Achieving results one case at a time

Joseph you did an amazing job representing me at Sydney District court . My prior lawyer didn't do anything for me in the local court, but u guys were great in the district court. Thanks for being patient with me too.

Josh Tyler

Ly Lawyers
5.0
2017-06-25T22:56:43+00:00

Josh Tyler

Joseph you did an amazing job representing me at Sydney District court . My prior lawyer didn't do anything for me in the local court, but u guys were great in the district court. Thanks for being patient with me too.

Achieving results one case at a time

I just wanted to say thank you for helping me with my case and THANK YOU for the section 10!

Craig H

Ly Lawyers
5.0
2017-06-25T22:57:53+00:00

Craig H

I just wanted to say thank you for helping me with my case and THANK YOU for the section 10!
5.0
9