Excessive Speed Infringements Withdrawn in Dandenong Magistrates Court
Facts:
Our client worked as a mechanic doing roadworthy certifications for VicRoads. His licence was critical to his employment, as if he was unable to test drive the vehicles, he would be unable to work.
So, when he received notice from VicRoads that his licence was being suspended for a period of 12 months, he needed immediate help to rectify the situation.
Our client had sold a car some months ago but was owed money for the vehicle still. Thus, whilst he had the transfer of registration, he did not lodge it as he thought holding out on that could help him secure payment.
Unfortunately, what it led to was the new driver of the vehicle incurring an excessive amount of speeding tickets and other infringements. Our client was on top of these though and nominated what he thought was all of them.
However, somehow it appears that 3 were missed. These three were also the most significant with one attracting an automatic disqualification of his licence, and the other two demerit points. It was because of these three that our client received the letter form VicRoads informing him of his loss of licence.
Result:
This was a matter that required quick action, not only because our client’s licence would remain suspended until the issue was fixed, but also because certain legal avenues would close off quickly.
With infringement matters there are strict timelines, particularly for excessive speed infringements, being the ones that attract an automatic suspension.
Because the 28 day period had elapsed, our client was prevented from nominating the driver of the vehicle. However, thanks to creative legal thinking, because we could establish that he had only just became aware of the infringements, an application to the Court could be made to re-open and extend the time for our client to nominate the other driver.
This application had to be lodged within 14 days of our client becoming aware. Despite the fact that the letter was dated 3 weeks prior to him coming to see us, he had just been on holiday and thus had not opened his mail until recently.
In a matter of 48 hours we were able to find all the unpaid infringements occurred in the other vehicle and lodge the application for all that would attract demerit points or a suspension.
In Court, we were successfully able to prove that he had only just become aware of these outstanding matters, and was not in possession of the vehicle, and thus should be given the time to nominate the infringements. The Magistrate agreed with us and gave our client a further 28 days to nominate the driver on the outstanding infringements.
This was an excellent result given our client would not be able to work if he was unable to regain his licence.
This result was one born of creative thinking and quick problem solving to identify what needed to be demonstrated to the Court to get the desired outcome. It is also demonstrable of the need to immediately seek legal advice when first becoming aware of unpaid infringements as strict time limits apply. Had our client waited longer then the process would have been much lengthier and more difficult to try and re-open the matters.
