Legal Services
Ringwood Magistrates Court
County Court of Victoria
Dribbin & Brown Drink Driving Lawyers are specialists in handling drink driving matters.
With offices in the Melbourne CBD, Dandenong, Frankston, Ballarat, Ringwood, Moorabbin, Geelong and Werribee areas, our criminal lawyers in the Melbourne CBD routinely appear at the various local Magistrates’ Courts around Melbourne representing clients charged with driving under the influence (DUI), driving whilst intoxicated (DWI) and drink driving more generally.
If you have been charged with a drink driving offence then call our office today. We are experts in the field and can help you achieve the best outcome in your case.
For further information, we have prepared this article to assist you in understanding the possible ramifications of going to court in relation to drink driving charges.
On right hand side of this page you will find separate links to the various drink driving charges that exist under the Road Safety Act 1986.
If you have a drink driving matter listed at court, please call our office to make an appointment with one of our experienced traffic offence lawyers, to determine how we can best help you. For more information about everything relating to drink driving and going to court, read on.
Defending drinking driving charges can be more technical than most criminal cases that run in the Magistrates Court. The truth is that the drink driving laws are very strict and defending these types of charges can be difficult, but there are defences available. To be clear, just because you are going to lose your licence is not a reason to plead not guilty in relation to a drink driving prosecution, but if you have a defence, we will find it. The following is a small list of some of the things that a drink driving lawyer must consider when advising a client a client whether they have a defence;
The above matters are a small representation of the types of defences available in relation to drink driving charges.
There may be a technical defence open to you that will support a not guilty plea and result in the charges being withdrawn.
If you have been caught drink or drunk driving and have to appear at court, it is always wise to engage a lawyer. If you are not sure whether you need one, give us a call. One of our experienced drink driving lawyers will call you back to get further details from you and assess your case. We are always happy to have a chat so at the very least you can make an informed decision about your representation.
Pleading guilty to drink driving and drunk driving charges listed at the local Magistrates’ Court can have a number of different ramifications:
As you can see, drink driving matters can have far-reaching ramifications and can see you severely financially impacted through loss of licence, substantial fines, potential imprisonment and further impoundment and forfeiture of your motor vehicle.
If you have been caught drink or drunk driving and have to appear at court, you should engage an experienced drink driving lawyer to ensure that you achieve the absolute best outcome.
In relation to certain BAC readings regarding drink driving offences (and other offences), the police have the power to suspend you from driving on the spot. This is called a section 85B notice. It is called that because it relates to section 85B of the Road Safety Act (It was previously called a s51 notice but this is no longer the case). If you are served with one of these notices it means that you cannot drive. If you do drive and are caught driving, you will be charged with driving whilst suspended. Any time off the road you do as a result of a section 85 or 85B suspension before attending court must be taken into account by the Magistrate.
It is possible to appeal a section 85 notice per section 85S, but it is not easy. Given that any time you do off the road will be taken into account later, sometimes there is no point (i.e. you will have to do the time eventually if you are pleading guilty and therefore may not want to spend the time and money delaying the inevitable).
In other circumstances you might be pleading not guilty to your drink driving charges or just need time to make arrangements. In these circumstances, it might be in your interests to challenge the section 85 or 85B notice and get back on the road immediately. Per section 85S of the Road Safety Act, a defendant must show exceptional circumstances before a Magistrate is permitted to overturn a notice issued under Part B Division 1 of the RSA. It is a high bar to overcome, but not insurmountable. A notice must be served on the chief commissioner 14 days before the application is heard. It is highly advisable to engage our office if you intend on lodging an appeal against a section 85 or 85B notice, as the reasons must be set out in the notice.
If you plead guilty at the Magistrates’ Court in relation to drink driving you can be sentenced with or without conviction. What does this mean? Previously it didn’t mean a great deal but that has now changed with the introduction of the spent conviction bill. It used to be the case that whether you were sentenced with or without conviction, the offence would still appear on a record check.
This new legislation now makes it more important than ever to engage a lawyer that understands how to successfully make a section 8 submission on your behalf, so as to invite the magistrate to not record a conviction. The difference between a conviction and no conviction being recorded, could be quite substantial if your employment depends on a clean record being maintained.
It is important to note that although a traffic infringement for drink driving is technically with conviction, the Victorian Spent Conviction legislation makes it plain that a traffic infringement notice will be a conviction that is immediately considered a spent conviction and therefore not appear on a record check, unless one of the exceptions applies. What does this mean? It used to be the case that some lawyers (not us) would advise clients to contest a drink driving infringement to argue for a non-conviction. Because of this new legislation, that is no longer necessary.
Dribbin & Brown Drink Driving Lawyers are well versed in making section 8 submissions to the court, so if having no record is important to you, you should engage one of our experienced traffic lawyers to represent you. For more information on the meaning of non-conviction vs conviction please click here.
It used to be the case that all drink driving matters would come back before the court for a relicensing application. This is now not the case. In most circumstances you will need to attend VicRoads, unless the offence relates to drug driving or a serious motor vehicle offence involving alcohol or drugs.
If you have to come to court to obtain your licence back you will need to list the application at the Magistrates’ Court 30 days prior to the date that you are due to get your licence back. During that 30 day period you will have to complete the drink driver’s education course and also will have to be interviewed by police in relation to your original offence. Police will then provide a report to the police prosecutor at court advising of their position in relation to whether you should get your licence back. You will then apply to the magistrate or judicial registrar for a licence eligibility order or (LPO).
Court can be an intimidating place, particularly for the unrepresented or first time defendant. The court staff, prosecutors and magistrates are all unfamiliar. That is why it is so important to engage lawyers who have experience representing clients charged with drink driving and DUI charges at the Magistrates’ Court where you must attend.
Drink driving law is complex. You could be walking into a hornet’s nest and not be aware of it until it is too late. We have represented hundreds of clients in the County Court, trying to repair damage that occurred in the first instance at the Magistrates’ Court. This commonly happens when clients either choose to represent themselves or initially engage inexperienced lawyers. Don’t make this mistake.
If you have been charged with drink driving or drunk driving, please select the office closest to you and contact us today.
Court can be an intimidating place, particularly for the unrepresented or first time defendant. The court staff, prosecutors and magistrates are all unfamiliar. That is why it is so important to engage lawyers who have experience representing clients charged with drink driving and DUI charges at the Magistrates’ Court where you must attend.
Drink driving law is complex. You could be walking into a hornet’s nest and not be aware of it until it is too late. We have represented hundreds of clients in the County Court, trying to repair damage that occurred in the first instance at the Magistrates’ Court. This commonly happens when clients either choose to represent themselves or initially engage inexperienced lawyers. Don’t make this mistake.
Why Dribbin & Brown?
If you have been charged with drink driving or drunk driving, please select the office closest to you and contact us today.
Ringwood Magistrates Court
County Court of Victoria
Need Help? Call our team 7am – 12 midnight (7 days a week)
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