Join Wiseman Lawyers Traffic Lawyer Andrew Wiseman at Moranbah Magistrates Court as he represents a client charged with Drink Driving. Watch Andrew explain what happened in the courtroom, along with the outcome which he achieved and how he achieved it.
All right, so now I’m at Moranbah Magistrates Court. Client was charged with low range drink driving, a reading of 0.068. They were the holder of an open Queensland licence.
They hadn’t lost their licence for any reason in the last five years, and for that reason they were eligible to apply for a DUI drink driving work licence, and that’s what I was instructed to prepare for and apply for today. Basically, when you’re applying for a DUI drink driving working licence, there are a number of items that you need to attend to. One of them is affidavit materials. If you’re employed, two affidavits need to be drafted, one for yourself and one for your employer. Basically the employer affidavit says what you do for a living, and the fact that it’s driver’s licence dependent.
If you can’t drive, they’ll have to terminate your employment. If you’re self-employed, obviously there’s no employer, which means that I need to basically embed your business’ last profit and loss statement into the affidavit materials. So basically I need to prove the turnover that will be depleted or terminated if you lose your licence, and then set out the expenses that your business has which won’t be met if the income ceases or is severely depleted. I asked my client to complete a reformatory course, which can be done online. I got him to get references based on a template we provide all of our clients.
I drafted the affidavit materials based on instructions I obtained from him quite some time ago. I drafted those affidavits, I forwarded a copy to the court in advance, met the client this morning. We finalised the paperwork. I ran through the procedure, you know, what was going to happen, the court layout, who stands where, what he can expect the prosecutor to say, myself to say, the magistrate, etcetera. I guided the magistrate through the affidavit materials, which covered the two points I alluded to, that he will suffer severe financial hardship if he loses his licence, and that on balance he’s a fit and proper person.
You know, I asked him to do that course. He had no previous history of this type, and his referees all say good things about him. I guided the magistrate through what happened, why it’s out of character, and all the rest of it. Look, the long and short of it is I was successful in persuading the magistrate to grant my client’s DUI drink driving work licence application. He’s been permitted to continue driving 24 hours a day, seven days per week. He’s an electrician, which goes somewhere to explain why he was given such broad hours, but 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He was given a three month disqualification.
The mandatory minimum is technically one month. The maximum’s nine months. But when you apply for a DUI drink driving work licence, the magistrate has got the discretion to double the disqualification meaning the maximum became 18 months. And you know, in layman’s terms, the minimum became 2 months. But because of the reading and a few other aspects, and particularly given how we were somewhat overreaching, by asking for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which basically means he can keep driving all day, every day, for work purposes, there had to be a bit of give and take. So she’s obviously moderated the disqualification that I may have been otherwise able to achieve, given we were seeking such broad hours.
So maybe if we were seeking sort of 5:00 AM to 7:00 PM Monday to Friday it might have been the two month disqualification. But look, I’m splitting hairs. The bottom line is he got a 24 hours a day, seven day a week work licence, three month disqualification, modest fine. He’s obviously ecstatic. He’s in Moranbah. If you’re self-employed in any kind of role, let alone as an electrician, and you don’t have a licence, your business is as good as stuffed. So he’s relieved, very happy. I’m Andrew Wiseman at Moranbah Magistrates Court. Thanks for watching.