Licence Suspension Appeals

The Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) has been given certain legislated powers that relate to placing sanctions on driver's licences. Most of the RMS decisions that relate to driver licensing can be appealed to the Local Court. These sorts of appeals are administrative appeals that previously could only be made to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal.  When appealing an RMS decision to the Local Court, the appeal is made to the administrative jurisdiction of the Court, where the Court can only review the decision that is made or penalty imposed by the RMS. 

The decisions that are appealed to the Local Court are decisions to suspend a driver's licence, under certain circumstances. These appeals are known as licence suspension appeals. Similarly, police have the power to suspend a driver's licence when certain offences are alleged to have been committed. Drivers are able to appeal all police licence suspensions, however, the matters that are to be taken into account by the Court are a little different to RMS appeals. There is a higher threshold to be met before the Court can review the suspension.

Habitual Offender Declarations

In addition to appealing licence suspensions, drivers are also able to make an Application to the Local Court to have an Habitual Offender Declaration quashed. An Habitual Offender Declaration is where a driver receives an automatic, additional 5 years' disqualification for committing 3 or more relevant (major) offences within a 5 year period. This means that in addition to any penalty that the Court might impose for the third offence, the driver will automatically receive a disqualification period of 5 years. This is often a severe penalty that can all but cripple the advancement of some people, given the importance of a driver's licence when trying to obtain employment.

Our traffic lawyers have years of experience successfully appealing to the Local Court to review a licence suspension or having an habitual offender declaration quashed. We understand the importance of retaining your driver's licence or having it reinstated sooner.

If you wish to make an application to the Local Court to appeal a licence suspension or to have an habitual offender declaration quashed, we invite you to contact your nearest Prime Lawyers office.