VIC VIC licence disqualified in NSW but not enforced, yet.

[Bolando]

I am a Victorian licence holder charged in NSW with 1st offence 'drug present in bloodstream'.

On June 20 2019 I pleaded guilty in an NSW local court and received a $500 fine and a 3-month license disqualification to take effect from June 22 to allow me time to drive back to Victoria.

I went overseas from June 23 until September 10 and was surprised to learn that VicRoads had not acted on the NSW judgement and failed to send me a disqualification notice. I called VicRoads and was advised that I could still drive in Victoria because I had not received a notice.

Keeping to the spirit of the judgement, I have no intention to drive until my disqualification ends on 21 September.

Provided VicRoads don't issue a disqualification notice in the next 10 days, my questions are:

Do I have to apply for a Licence Eligibility Order and the associated behaviour change program to reinstate a licence that was not disqualified within its given time frame?

If so, is there a process whereby this can be expedited? Any time taken past the 3-month disqualification doesn't seem fair.

 

[Scruff]

This is certainly an interesting scenario.

As far as I can see, you were disqualified by a Court, therefore the disqualification is as set out in the Court's orders (22 June to 21 Sept). VicRoads can't override that - only another Court can, so you should be clear to drive from 22 Sept onwards.

Make sure you hang on to the Court order and also make a note of when you contacted VicRoads and what was said - just in case you do run into any problems down the track.

In the meantime, I believe your instinct is correct in not driving until 22 Sept. According to the Court order, you are still disqualified - regardless of what VicRoads says.

 

[Scruff]

As an afterthought, I would also recommend that you do the following on 22 Sept:

Call VicRoads or attend in person at one of their offices.

If you call:
1. Note the date and time of the call.
2. Ask if the call is being recorded. If they say "no", ask them to record it.
3. Ask how long the recording will be kept. (They may or may not be able to answer that.)
4. Confirm the name of the person you are speaking to.
5. Ask them to confirm the status of your drivers licence. Specifically, ask them to confirm that there are no disqualifications or restrictions in place.
6. Write everything down.

If you attend an office:
1. Note the date and time of the visit and which office you attend.
2. Confirm the name of the person you speak to.
3. Ask them to confirm the status of your drivers licence. Specifically, ask them to confirm that there are no disqualifications or restrictions in place.
4. Ask for written confirmation of your licence status.

The reason for doing this is that if the need arises at a later date, you can show that "you made every reasonable effort" to confirm that you held a valid licence when you began driving again on 22 Sept - despite the fact that you never received any notice in the mail. In short, it shows that you have acted responsibly while the system has obviously failed. This should be enough to resolve any issue down the track, but I really don't think that there will be any. It looks to me like VicRoads was never notified by the Court in the first place, in which case it's unlikely that anything will come of it.

 

[Bolando]

Following up on the above.

RMS in NSW advised the disqualification order will get lifted automatically from midnight 21 September and I'll be good to drive in NSW from that point onwards; no need to apply for anything.