In Episode 35 – “Brisbane Court Traffic Lawyers – Unlicensed Driving Dismissal” of the Boorman Lawyers Court Reports channel, our principal lawyer, Joshua Boorman appeared at the Brisbane Magistrates Court where we successfully negotiated the withdrawal of our clients Unlicensed Driving offence.
Suspended Driving due to unpaid traffic fines
We appeared on this matter which involved an offence of “Unlicensed Driving” and to be more specific the clients licence has been unknowingly suspended due to an unpaid speeding ticket which had been committed by her husband.
Unusual facts involved
This was a very interesting and unusual case where the client had become unaware that she hit with a speeding infringement.
Whilst the speeding infringement was performed in our clients registered vehicle it was actually her husband who was the driver of the vehicle at the time. When our client’s husband was caught speeding he was driving from the Gold Coast to Brisbane since he and his wife were in the process of moving house.
He was caught speeding via a fixed speed camera detection unit which meant that he was not physically pulled over by Police and issued a roadside infringement. Thus, at the time he was unaware that he had been caught speeding and therefore nothing was mentioned to our client about any such speeding offence.
As mentioned, the day of the speeding offence was the same weekend that my client and her husband were moving house and relocating from the Gold Coast to Brisbane and as such in the proceeding weeks following the speeding offence the speeding offence and fine was mailed out to our clients old address.
At least 1 or 2 late notices for the fine were also sent to the old address, which went unattended to due to our client and her husband no longer living at the residence where the mail and notices were sent.
Failure to nominate the correct driver
Give the above mentioned unusual set of circumstances which took place it’s clear that our client never became aware of the speeding infringement that occurred by her husband in her vehicle.
As such our client never took the appropriate steps in nominating her husband as the correct driver of her vehicle at the time the offence took place and this therefore meant that the speeding offence was presumed to be commissioned by our client since she was the registered own er of the vehicle.
Failure to pay traffic infringement fines
As a result of our client failing to nominate her husband as the driver and subsequently failing to pay the speeding offence fine due to the infringement and follow up notices going to their old address and not coming to their attention. This meant the fines went unpaid.
In the state of Queensland, any fines such as traffic infringements, parking fines or certain government debts that continuously go unpaid can result in the debts being referred to the State Penalty Enforcement Registry (SPER) which ultimately has the power to place a suspension on an individuals Queensland driver’s licence until such time the outstanding debts are paid or a payment arrangement has been entered into.
Licence suspension due to unpaid fine
The unpaid speeding offence ended up being referred to SPER and after some time there was a suspension placed onto our clients Queensland drivers licence.
Event the notice of suspension sent to our clients old address went unnoticed since she no longer lived at the old address, so unbeknown to our client she was driving on a suspended drivers licence.
Pulled over by Police for suspended driving
So the infringement notice, the fines, and the follow-up notices all flew on to the radar, they went to our client’s old address.
She was pulled over by random detection, advised that her license was suspended and charged with unlicensed driving which came as a massive shock to our client.
Case Conferencing
After getting detailed instructions from our client we decided to enter into negotiations with police seeking to withdraw the matter.
Our written submissions to the Police Prosecutions were forceful and based on the specific legal defence of “Mistake”.
We submitted that due to the unusual set of circumstances our client honestly and reasonably believed that she was not committing any offence at the time she was pulled over and charged with Unlicensed Driving.
We indicated that we would seek to defend the matter on that basis.
Successful Case Conferencing & Dismissal of Offence
A short time before the second Court appearance we received a response back from the Brisbane Police Prosecutions indicating that they had no evidence to counter our clients claims and agreed to have the charged dismissed.
At the second Court appearance the prosecution offered no evidence and the Magistrate formalised the matter by dismissing the Unlicensed Driving charges against our client.
Best outcome possible
As you could imagine our client was extremely happy with this outcome and the result far exceeded her expectations.
The right result was achieved and our client was exonerated. Our Brisbane Court Traffic Lawyers were also proud of the work and outcome we achieved for our client.
Contact our Brisbane Court Traffic Lawyers
I want to thank you for tuning in to Boorman Lawyers today. You can catch us at any of the usual social media platforms. If you’ve got any questions or queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 1300 941 900.
Speak to our Brisbane Court Traffic Lawyers Ph: 1300 941 900
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