Work Licences and Special Hardship Orders

Work Licence (restricted licence) applications in Queensland

When facing the loss of a licence for a drink or drug driving offence, you may be able to apply for a restricted licence if you meet certain criteria. The legislation calls it a restricted licence; almost everyone else calls it a work licence, and they are the same thing. These applications require careful preparation: the requirements are strict, and a successful outcome depends heavily on the quality of the material put before the court.

Timing is everything. A work licence application can only be made at the court hearing where you are convicted, before the Magistrate imposes the disqualification; section 87(2) says “and not otherwise”. Once you have been convicted and disqualified, the opportunity is gone. That is why you must get advice before your court date.

That also settles where the application is made: it goes to whichever Magistrates Court is hearing your charge, which across southeast Queensland usually means Brisbane, Beenleigh, Ipswich, Southport, Caboolture or Cleveland. This is one of the practical differences between the two orders. A special hardship order goes to the court for the district where you live, and it is filed separately, after the suspension has begun.

Am I eligible for a work licence?

To be eligible to apply for a restricted licence under section 87 of the Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995 (Qld) (criteria as at 3 July 2026), all of the following must be met:

• The charge must be a qualifying offence. Work licences are available for drink driving offences where your blood or breath alcohol reading is under 0.15%. A reading of 0.15% or higher, or a charge of driving under the influence, is excluded. For drug driving charges (driving with a relevant drug present in saliva), there is no concentration threshold: if the drug is detected in your saliva, you may be eligible. However, if you are charged with being under the influence of a drug (rather than merely having it present), you cannot apply. Failing to provide a specimen for analysis is treated the same way as a high-range offence, so it also makes you ineligible.
• You must have held a provisional or open Queensland licence at the time of the offence and immediately before the disqualification (s 87(5)(e)–(f)). A learner licence does not qualify, and if your licence was suspended or disqualified at the time you were caught, including a SPER (State Penalties Enforcement Registry) suspension for unpaid fines, you are not eligible. Provisional drivers should get advice early: separate exclusions apply to convictions under the no-alcohol-limit provisions that cover P-platers, so in practice a provisional work licence application usually only arises for drug driving (relevant drug present) charges.
• No relevant prior history in the last 5 years. Your licence must not have been suspended, cancelled or disqualified in the 5 years before your application (limited exceptions apply, including certain SPER suspensions), and you must not have been convicted of drink driving, dangerous driving, or a similar offence within the 5 years before your current conviction.
• You must genuinely need your licence to earn your livelihood. It is not enough that losing your licence would be inconvenient, or that it would make getting to and from work more difficult. You must be able to demonstrate to the court that a refusal would cause extreme hardship to you or your family by depriving you of your means of earning a living: for example, that driving is an essential part of your job, or that there is no reasonable alternative way to perform your work duties. If you work for someone else, an affidavit from your employer is required.

Who cannot apply for a work licence

There are several circumstances that will make a person ineligible for a restricted licence, regardless of their personal or financial situation:

• Your BAC reading was 0.15% or higher, you were charged with driving under the influence, or you failed to provide a specimen for analysis
• Your licence was suspended or disqualified at the time of the offence, including a SPER suspension, demerit point suspension, or court-ordered disqualification
• You have a relevant offence, or a licence suspension, cancellation or disqualification, in the last 5 years
• You were charged with being under the influence of a drug (rather than driving with a relevant drug present)
• You were driving under a SPER-suspended licence. This results in a separate charge of driving without a licence, and this combination typically renders a person ineligible on multiple grounds

Special Hardship Order (special hardship licence)

A Special Hardship Order, commonly called a special hardship licence, operates similarly to a work licence in terms of what it allows you to do (it permits you to drive during certain hours or for certain purposes), but it applies in different circumstances. The two terms mean the same thing: “special hardship order” is the name the legislation uses, and it is what the court actually makes.

When does a special hardship licence apply?

An SHO is available in exactly two situations (Transport Operations (Road Use Management—Driver Licensing) Regulation 2021 (Qld), chapters 7, 8 and 10, as at 31 July 2026). Your licence must have been suspended because:

• You breached a good behaviour period. If you accumulated 12 or more demerit points in 3 years on an open licence (or 4 or more in 1 year as a learner or P-plater) and elected to drive on good behaviour for a year instead of serving the suspension, picking up 2 or more further demerit points during that year triggers a fresh suspension for double the original period. Under section 266(2)(d), if your licence is an open or provisional licence you may be eligible to apply for an SHO; or
• You committed a high-speed offence. Driving more than 40km/h over the speed limit, whether by conviction or through the infringement process, attracts an automatic 6-month suspension, with the same open-or-provisional eligibility under section 285(2)(c).

Simply accumulating too many demerit points does not qualify you for an SHO. In that situation your options are to serve the suspension or take the good behaviour election. Nor does speeding again while you are already driving on an SHO or a section 79E order: under sections 288 and 289 that triggers its own separate suspension, for double the order period, and it is not a suspension an SHO can be granted against. An SHO is also not available following a drink or drug driving conviction; that is the domain of the work licence. If you are being sentenced for a traffic offence in court, you would be looking at a work licence, not an SHO.

Am I eligible for a special hardship order?

Eligibility is set by sections 310 and 311 of the Driver Licensing Regulation, and every one of the following must be true:

• Your suspended licence is a Queensland open or provisional licence. A learner licence does not qualify.
• The application is for a replacement licence of the same class as the licence that was suspended.
• In the 5 years before this suspension, no Queensland licence you held was suspended or cancelled, you were not disqualified from holding or obtaining one, and your authority to drive here on an interstate licence was not suspended. A limited set of exceptions is carved out, including 24-hour drink driving suspensions, SPER suspensions under s 105, suspensions for medical incapacity, and any order later set aside by a court or QCAT.
• You were not, in that same period, found ineligible to hold a Queensland licence under the Regulation’s provisions dealing with drivers who hold no Queensland licence.
• You have not been convicted of dangerous driving under section 328A of the Criminal Code (Qld) in that period.
• You can demonstrate extreme hardship to you or your family by depriving you of your means of earning a living, or severe and unusual hardship for another reason (such as transporting a dependant to essential medical care).

The five-year clean record is doing most of the work here, and it is where most applications fail before they start. It also means a previous SHO is usually fatal: the suspension that led to it will normally still sit inside the five-year window.

There is no 21-day deadline, and what the 21 days really is

This is the part most people get wrong, and it is worth stating plainly: there is no fixed deadline, such as 21 days, by which you must apply or lose your eligibility. Chapter 10 contains no application deadline at all.

The 21 days people remember is real, but it does something else. Under sections 266(3) and 285(3), your suspension cannot start until at least 21 days after the day TMR gives you the notice. That period is your window to get the application and supporting affidavits ready, not a deadline to lodge them, because you cannot lodge until the suspension has actually begun.

The application is filed in the Magistrates Court for the district where you live, which across southeast Queensland usually means Brisbane, Beenleigh, Ipswich, Southport, Caboolture or Cleveland. Under section 312(4) you must then give the Department of Transport and Main Roads a court-stamped copy of the application at least 7 days before the hearing, or, if the hearing is listed within 8 days of the application, as soon as practicable before the hearing day. Under section 314, your suspension is then stayed from the day TMR receives that copy until the day before the hearing, so you can lawfully drive while you wait for your court date.

The trap is the gap: you cannot drive between the day your suspension starts and the day TMR receives your stamped application. A suspension disqualifies you from holding a licence for as long as it runs (section 127(4)(b) of the Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995), so a conviction for driving during the gap carries a mandatory further disqualification of 6 months under section 78(3), which defeats the very application you were making. Acting fast keeps the gap as short as possible, which is why you should contact us the moment a suspension notice arrives.

What counts as extreme hardship?

Courts apply this test strictly. Inconvenience, added travel time, or the cost of rideshares generally will not be sufficient. The kinds of circumstances that may satisfy the test include:

• Your employment requires you to drive (e.g. delivery driver, tradesperson travelling between sites, salesperson covering regional areas)
• You live in a regional or rural area with no access to public transport
• You are the sole carer for a dependent who requires regular medical transport
• Loss of the licence would directly cause you to lose your employment, with significant financial consequences for your household

Evidence is what separates the applications that succeed from the ones that do not. An affidavit from your employer setting out exactly what your role requires, rather than a general statement that you need to drive, carries far more weight, and so does material showing there is no practical public transport alternative where you live.

Conditions on a work licence or special hardship order

Whether granted a work licence or a special hardship order, the court will impose conditions on how you may drive. Common conditions include:

• Specified driving hours (e.g. Monday to Friday, 6am–6pm)
• Restrictions on geographic area or purpose (e.g. work-related travel only)
• A requirement to keep a logbook recording each journey, including time, destination, and purpose
• Restrictions on carrying passengers
• Conditions relating to uniform or identification in some employment contexts

Importantly, when a work licence is granted the law doubles the maximum disqualification the court can impose, and directs the court to treat the work licence as a reason for a longer disqualification than you would otherwise receive (s 87(6)–(6A)). For example, if your offence would ordinarily attract a disqualification of up to 6 months, the court can disqualify you for up to 12 months while you drive on the restricted licence. The actual period depends on the circumstances and the submissions made on your behalf. You will also receive a fine, the amount of which will depend on your BAC reading and the submissions made on your behalf.

Why you should choose George Criminal Lawyers

We have an outstanding record in making these applications to the court, built on extensive experience and meticulous preparation of the supporting material required.

Our initial consultation focuses on gathering detailed information about your personal circumstances, employment, and financial situation. We prepare comprehensive affidavits from you and, where appropriate, from your employer, setting out in clear terms why you need your licence and what the consequences of losing it would be.

Where it strengthens your application, we supplement this material with certificates of completion of road safety programs such as QTOP which demonstrate your insight into the impact of your offending. We also obtain any additional supporting material our assessment of your case identifies as beneficial.

Our experience means we know what courts look for, what questions are likely to be asked, and how to present your case in the most compelling way possible. With George Criminal Lawyers on your side, you can be confident your application is prepared and presented the way the court expects to see it.

If you’ve been charged with drink or drug driving, or with unlicensed or disqualified driving, those pages explain how we defend the underlying charge itself.

The information on this page is general in nature. Eligibility for a work licence or Special Hardship Order depends on the specific facts of your case. Contact us for a consultation to discuss your circumstances.