Keeping you on the road - A Guide to Work Licences and Special Hardship Orders
If you’ve been charged with a drink driving offence and are facing a mandatory licence disqualification, you might be eligible for a “restricted work licence”.
Similarly, if you’ve accumulated too many demerit points or breached a good driving behaviour period, you might be eligible for special hardship order.
In this article we provide you with the information that you need to be informed and determine your eligibility.
If you’re not sure what your options are, you can find more information about our how Brisbane lawyers can help here.
For motorists in Queensland, facing a potential loss of their licence due to the accumulation of demerit points, a high speed offence, or a drink or drug driving offence can be daunting. Losing the ability to drive means losing access to transport, and often risks the loss of employment, and impacts to their family.
Fortunately, Queensland’s traffic laws also provide a way to keep a driver’s licence in those situations - provided that the person is eligible.
In this article we talk about the differences between restricted work licenses and special hardship orders, how to apply, and what evidence you need to give yourself the best chances of success; but if you don’t want to read all that - scroll right to the bottom to find our quick summary of the key bits.
What are Restricted Work Licences?
A “restricted work licence” or a “section 87 application” is a kind of licence that is available to someone who has been charged with a drink driving, drug driving, or failing to provide a breath sample offence. However, in order to be granted a restricted work licence by the Court, you must meet the eligibility criteria - if you do not, the Court will not grant you a work licence.
Who is eligible for a restricted work licence?
Restricted work licenses are subject to strict eligibility requirements. In fact, those requirements maintain that the Court cannot grant you a restricted work licence if you do not meet the criteria - regardless of the impact or hardship that you and your family might suffer upon losing your licence.
So what are the criteria - well, in order to obtain a restricted licence, you must satisfy the Court that:
You are a fit and proper person to hold a restricted work license having regard to both the safety of other road users, and the members of the public generally; and
If the Court refused your application, that refusal would cause extreme financial hardship to your family by depriving you of your means of earning a living; and
You must have been driving on a Queensland Open licence, RE licence, or R licence when you committed the offence.
However, you will not be granted a restricted licence if:
your drink driving charge is a “high range offence”;
your provisional (i.e. P Plates) or open licence has been suspended, canceled or disqualified within the last 5 years before your application is made;
you’ve been previously convicted of a drink driving offence (including a failure to supply a breath sample, drug driving, or dangerous driving offence within the last 5 years before your application is made;
when you were driving, you were doing so in the course of your employment;
you were driving on a restricted licence at the time of the offence;
How to apply for a restricted work licence?
We strongly recommend that you do not make an application for a work licence in the absence of legal advice or representation.
The process for making an application for a restricted work licence involves the completion of a form, as well as the filing of support materials - including an affidavit from both you and your employer. If you are self-employed, your affidavit needs to address your employment and your reliance on your drivers licence.
It is important that these affidavits are prepared properly as it is these documents which the Court will assess to determine if you should be granted a work licence.
What happens at Court?
At Court, you will appear with your lawyer who will conduct your plea of guilty, sentencing, and your application. A Magistrate will preside over the proceedings, with assistance from a police prosecutor.
After you have entered a plea of guilty and the Court has heard the facts of the charge from the Police, your lawyer will make a number of submissions to the Court about your application. Some of this will be information that is contained in your affidavit, and other parts will be carefully crafted submissions based on laws such as the Penalties and Sentencing Act.
At the conclusion of those submissions, the Magistrate will sentence you and will either grant or dismiss your application for a restricted work licence. If the licence is granted, there will be a discussion about the required conditions and restrictions of the licence, as well as its duration.
What are Special Hardship Orders?
Like work licences, Special Hardship Licenses are a kind of restricted licence which is available to people whose licence would otherwise be lost due to committing a high speed offence or due to the accumulation of demerit points, for example after committing more offences after being on a good driving behaviour period.
Also like work licences, an application for a special hardship licence must be made to the Court and there are eligibility criteria which apply. Special hardship licenses also come with restrictions on when and where you are able to drive.
Eligibility for a Special Hardship Order
The provisions which relate to special hardship orders are found in Chapter 10 of the Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Driver Licensing Regulation.
For the Court to grant an application, you must show that:
you are a fit and proper person to continue to drive, having regard to your traffic history, and the safety of other road users and the public; and
that if the application was refused:
you and your family would suffer extreme financial hardship by depriving you of your means of earning a living; and/or
you and your family would suffer severe and unusual hardship in a way other than by depriving you of your means of earning a living.
In order to make an application you just have a suspended open or provision licence and also meet the eligibility criteria.
The suspension will typically follow the accumulation of too many demerit points whilst subject to a “good driving behaviour period”, but in other cases will stem from committing a high speed offence - that is, for exceeding the posted speed limit by more than 40km/h. You will be notified by the Department of your impending suspension after you’ve accepted the infringement notice for the offence. This suspension notice will outline the date that your suspension will take effect, which is also the date that you will be able to file your special hardship application.
A word of caution - if you have received an initial letter from the Department of Transport disclosing a “notice to choose” it is critical that you opt for the good driving behaviour period if you are concerned about protecting your eligibility to later apply for a special hardship order. This is discussed more below.
If after read this you’re not sure about your eligibility, you can use the link below to schedule a conference with us to discuss your case further.
What are the eligibility criteria?
Like a restricted work licence, the criteria for eligibility of a special hardship order provide circumstances by which you will not be entitled to one, those are:
if within the last 5 years you have been disqualified or suspended from driving, or your licence was cancelled;
your authority to drive in Queensland under a non-Queensland licence has been previously suspended; or
you have been convicted previously of an offence of dangerous driving.
Applying for a special hardship order
Provided that you are eligible, the process for making a special hardship order involves preparing and filing an application in the approved form at your local courthouse along with the necessary supporting material.
This supporting material is similar to that for a work licence and will generally require an affidavit from you as the applicant and, if relying on the loss of your employment, an affidavit from your employer which discusses that.
It is crucial that your affidavits are properly drafted and outline the reasons why you should be granted a special hardship order by the Court. The affidavit material forms the foundation of your application and you risk jeopardising your success if you prepare and rely on poorly drafted documents. It is for this reason that obtaining a lawyer is, in our experience, your best avenue for success.
What happens at Court?
The process for hearing and determining a special hardship order is very similar to that of a work licence, with the exception of the Police. Instead, the Court will be assisted by a lawyer who appears for the Department of Transport and will make submissions about your application and your fitness to obtain a special hardship order. While the Court is guided by these submissions, the decision of whether to grant your application is always up to the Magistrate.
If the application is granted, the Magistrate will then discuss the restrictions which ought to be imposed on that licence with your lawyer. These will typically include such things as the when and where you are able to drive.
If an application is granted, you will need to attend a Department of Transport location so that the Court can re-issue you with a restricted drivers licence. It is only then that you will be able to drive as per the Court’s restrictions.
Summary
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A restricted work licence is available only to those persons who have been charged with an offence of drink driving, or drug driving.
A special hardship order is a available only to those persons whose licence has been suspended due to the accumulation of demerit points, or by committing a high speed offence.
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Each kind of license has unique eligibility criteria and it’s best to obtain advice from a lawyer to be completely certain.
However, broadly speaking you will not be eligible for either licence if you have been suspended, disqualified or had your licence cancelled in the preceding 5 years.
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Both a restricted work licence and a special hardship order require an application to be made to the Court along with supporting material.
This supporting material consists primarily of an affidavit by you, and usually your employer, which addresses the suitability criteria contained in the Legislation.
Traffic Lawyers for Restricted Work Licenses and Special Hardship Orders
Despite what this article might infer, traffic laws in Queensland are complex and involve a number of Acts and Regulations. The consequences of a badly prepared application might mean the loss of your income, and ongoing hardship for you and your family.
We strongly recommend that if you are thinking of bringing an application for a restricted work licence or a special hardship order, you should speak to Reinke Lawyers for more information before you do so.
We are extremely experienced in this area and have a 100% success rate in obtaining special hardship applications. We can and regularly do appear for clients in all Brisbane, surrounding, and regional courts.
Use the links below to call us, or submit an enquiry and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Disclaimer
The information which is contained in this article is of a general nature only and should not be relied upon as legal advice. Every case is unique and it is recommended that you obtain advice which focuses on your specific circumstances.
If you require legal assistance, or any further information, please contact us to speak to one of our lawyers.