If you have been intercepted by police while driving unlicensed or while disqualified and given a notice to attend court you will need to deal with it at a Magistrates Court.

Most commonly, traffic offences involve driving without a valid licence, or driving while suspended due to demerit points or an unpaid SPER debt. And some charges are more serious, such as driving after you’ve been disqualified by a court from driving. Other charges include being unregistered, uninsured or driving defective vehicles. High range speeding offences can see you end up in court, as well as other offences such as careless and dangerous driving (see our page on those charges here).

Depending on what the police have charged you with, there may be a mandatory disqualification period attached to it. For example, driving while demerit points suspended carries a minimum 6 months off the road. Driving while disqualified by a court order means a minimum 2 years off the road.

In addition to disqualifications, the court will usually impose a fine. If you have a bad traffic history however, the court might start looking at things like probation and imprisonment, depending on how bad it is. Charges of disqualified driving are serious, and it is vital that you don’t underestimate how seriously the court can punish you.

Our job is to ensure that you receive the minimum (or no) disqualification, as well as the minimum penalty. For more serious charges like disqualified driving, we conduct extensive legal research to find cases that mean we keep you out of jail and back on the road as soon as possible. If there is room to negotiate, we can have charges downgraded, which means no loss of licence and no negative consequences.

If we need to, we gather supporting material like references from friends and family, and letters from work confirming what an asset you are to them. If jail is on the horizon, we make sure you attend courses like QTOP and that we have everything the Magistrate needs to consider to make sure that doesn’t happen.

With George Criminal Lawyers on your side, we ensure you are in a position to get the best possible result.