Licence Restorations, do you need your licence back following a guilty finding for drink driving or drug driving?
If you have to go back to Court to apply to have your driver’s licence restored, Dribbin & Brown Traffic Lawyers can help.
We have offices in Melbourne’s CBD, Moorabbin, Dandenong, Geelong, Ringwood, Ballarat and Frankston and we regularly attend the local Magistrates’ Courts in those areas to assist applicants in a driver’s licence restoration hearing.
When people are charged with drink driving (depending on their age, alcohol reading and number of prior matters relating to drink driving) they may or may not have to install an interlock device in their car upon becoming relicenced. This is a breath test device connected to the ignition of a vehicle which will prevent it from starting if the driver has been drinking.
What could happen?
If you have recorded a blood alcohol reading over .07 you must attend Court to make an application to the Court to become relicenced. This is called a licence restoration application, and involves giving evidence in the witness box under oath.
It also means that prior to Court, you must complete a drink driver awareness course and participate in a police interview where a police member records your answers and creates a report for the Court.
In some cases before 1 October 2014 the Magistrate can decide whether or not you will be subject to an interlock condition. To have the Magistrate exercise their discretion in your favour depends on a number of different factors.
In all cases post October 2014 it is mandatory that the Magistrate impose an interlock condition. But here too there are a number of different factors that will influence the Magistrate in deciding how long you must have it, or whether to give you your licence back at all.
The reality is that to have an interlock condition imposed is costly, embarrassing and inconvenient. What a Magistrate decides with a licencing restoration application is dependent on a number of things, but primarily it is how the applicant answers the questions put to them in the witnesses box.
Should I get a lawyer when I go to Court?
When a witness gives answers that show a lack of understanding of how alcohol dissipates in the body, or of the various repercussions of drink driving, Magistrates will often reject the application. The same often happens if answers given on the day of Court differ to answers initially given on the police report.
The Magistrate might send the applicant away for 3 – 6 months, which effectively means a further 3 – 6 months off the road. We are routinely told by clients that ‘the drink driving instructor said I don’t need a lawyer when I go to Court,’ and just as many times we have seen an unrepresented person come unstuck in the witness box.
Is it mandatory to have a lawyer? No. Should you have a lawyer with you? It all depends on how badly you want your licence back.
Our advice is, don’t be caught out at Court. See a lawyer prior to making your application to become relicenced. If you don’t have a lawyer representing your interests then who is there to protect your rights? You will be at the mercy of the Magistrate and the prosecutor.
Dribbin & Brown Traffic Lawyers have represented hundreds of applicants wanting their licences restored, with great results. It is simply a matter of preparation.
When you hire our firm to assist you it will be one of our lawyers asking you the initial questions in Court, rather than the Magistrate or the prosecutor. This is very helpful to applicants.
If you want to ensure that you become relicenced call one of our lawyers today to assist you to get back on the road as soon as possible.
