Disqualified Driving
Disqualified driving is a type of unlicensed driving charge where at the time you were arrested you were disqualified from driving by a court order.
The charge is different to other unlicensed driving or driving without a licence charges as there must be a previous disqualification by the courts still in place at the time the offence was committed.
Section 78 of the Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995 is the legislation that sets out the charge in Queensland. It defines a disqualified driver as one who is disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver licence because of any court order.
How is a disqualified driving heard in court?
We have an article on how drink driving charge are heard, disqualified driving charges are heard in a similar way.
If a court has disqualified you from driving and you're caught driving what are the consequences and penalties?
The consequences of driving while disqualified can range from a fine and 2-year disqualification up to imprisonment and a 5 year disqualification.
The factors that determine the penalty include
- How long ago your licence was disqualified
- Your traffic and criminal history
- Whether you committed other charges at the same time like drink driving or drug driving
- The reason you were driving
- How you were driving
We have a dedicated disqualified driving charge page with all the answers you could ever need.
Unlicensed Driving
Unlicensed Driving
Unlicensed driving is a charge that can cover many different types of situations. The charge in its simplest form applies to people who have simply forgotten to renew their licence but at its most serious it covers people who have been disqualified from driving by a Queensland court and have been caught driving again. How serious the offence is and whether a person’s licence will be disqualified depends on the circumstances of the charge.
Why would I be charged with unlicensed driving?
People are charged with unlicensed driving because for one reason or another at the time of their licence status was checked by the police they were not licenced to drive on Queensland roads.
The typical types of unlicensed driving charges include;
- Unlicensed driving– applies generally where people have forgotten to renew their licence
- Unlicensed driving (SPER suspended) – applies to people who have a debt with the State Penalties Enforcement Registry (SPER) that they haven’t paid and SPER has suspended their licence
- Unlicensed driving (demerit point suspended) – applies to people whose licence has been suspended for too many demerit points. Generally Queensland Transport would have written to a person who exceeded their demerit points and that person has elected a 3 month suspension or failed to elect a good driving behaviour period and their licence was automatically suspended for 3 months.
- Unlicensed driving (disqualified by court order) – applies to people whose licence has been disqualified by a court. This is a very serious charge, for more information visit our disqualified driving webpage
What penalty does an unlicensed driving charge carry?
The court will impose a fine for the offence and depending on the severity of the offence may impose a period of disqualification. For repeat offenders or more serious offences will look at a range of other penalties up to and including prison.
We have a detailed unlicensed driving charge page with all the answers you will need.
