MORANBAH: High Range DUI Drink Driving

 I recently flew from Brisbane to Moranbah to represent a client charged with High Range Drink Driving. 

The client faced a potential lifetime loss of licence but I acheived a 7 month disqualification.

We service the entire state of Queensland, despite being based in Brisbane.

When I attend regional courts I like to film episodes of our YouTube series 'Wiseman Lawyers Ride Alongs'.

I do this partly to show potential clients such as yourself what it is exactly that we do, and partly to prove that we do and will literally go anywhere in Queensland.

I can get a 6am flight out of Brisbane and be standing on the steps of court at Blackwater for example at 8:30am waiting for the doors to open, and then be back in Brisbane in time for lunch.

Please find the YouTube episode below, along with a transcript for your convenience.

Regards

Andrew Wiseman

Ph: 1300947352 Email:  andrew.wiseman@wisemanlawyers.com.au

RIDE ALONG:

Join Wiseman Lawyers Principal Solicitor Andrew Wiseman as he drives to Moranbah Magistrates Court. On the way to court, Andrew discusses his court matter for the day. On the way back to the airport, he explains the outcome and how it was achieved

MORANBAH MAGISTRATES COURT:

Andrew Wiseman represents a client charged with DUI Drink Driving at Moranbah Magistrates Court.

 Don't lose your licence, Save Your licence. Do the wise thing. Call Wiseman Lawyers today 1300 947 352 or go to wisemanlawyers.com.au .

I'm Andrew Wiseman and welcome back to Wiseman Lawyers Court Ride Alongs, Moranbah edition.

Does your licence need saving? Do the wise thing. Call Wiseman Lawyers. Does your licence need saving? Do the wise thing. Call the Wiseman Team at Wiseman Lawyers.

Once again, I'm Andrew Wiseman, owner and Principal Solicitor of Wiseman Lawyers, Queensland's only truly dedicated traffic offence law firm. As I say in every episode, when I say the only truly dedicated offence law firm, all we do is Queensland traffic law and the only courts we service are Queensland courts. With that said, we will literally appear in every single court in Queensland, as I've already said.

I'm at Moranbah today. Last week I was at Cairns and Gladstone. Cairns Friday, Gladstone Monday. Also, obviously we service all of southeast Queensland. Yesterday I was at Holland Park in the morning and Brisbane City late morning, day before that Wynnum, day before that Toowoomba. I think you get the point, as I've said we will literally go anywhere in Queensland. The images displaying on the screen now show the courts we've been to in recent months and with regards to Queensland traffic law we don't do anything else so if it happened with a car or a motor vehicle and you're either going to lose your licence or go to jail or anything in between, that is all we do, that is what we specialise in and if you're in that situation we can help you make the problem go away.

Okay, the gentleman that's engaged me today, mid-forties diesel fitter with one of the large mining companies operating out of Moranbah. Obviously he's a diesel fitter so he needs his licence to do his job and the fact that he lives in a regional location like Moranbah means that he can't get to work, or anywhere else for that matter, while he's without a licence. Unfortunately, he's blown high range .161, so as you'll remember from previous episodes that makes him ineligible to apply for a work licence. So whatever disqualification he gets today will be a complete disqualification so there will be no special exemptions or conditions made to drive for work purposes. He's still negotiating with his employer to see if they can accommodate him if he's successful in getting a good outcome today, but that remains to be seen.

You'll also remember from previous episodes that when you're high range there's no maximum so worst case scenario today is an absolute loss of licence or a lifetime loss of licence. Best case scenario when you're high range is, six months. So the best case today is a six month disqualification. I'm going to be pushing for that, partly because even though he's high range he's at the bottom end of the high range bracket, .161, and also due to his very minor and insignificant history. He's got no previous drink drivings or anything like that. What history he does have is just run-of-the-mill average traffic history. In my view, there's no aggravating circumstance that would cause the magistrate to want to cause my client an excessive amount of hardship.

Coupled with that I've got case law with me that basically shows that there's previous offenders who have been charged with circumstances, sorry, charged with offences that are more aggravated than my client has been and circumstances that are far more serious, and they have received only eight months. So I've got case law there to hand up in the event that the magistrate needs some further persuasion, but I'm confident based on my verbal submissions, and the character references that my client's obtained, based on the template which we provided, will be able to give me the ammunition that I need to persuade the magistrate that the maximum of six months is appropriate instead of a lengthy disqualification.

And if for whatever reason we've got a magistrate that strongly thinks otherwise, I've got case law there that will further persuade them that six to eight months in lieu of the minimum six months would be appropriate. So, yeah, going in today. Worst case scenario lifetime loss of licence, best case six months. I'm pushing hard for the minimum six months, but if we get six to eight it's a good outcome and it's anyone's guess what he would have got if he had have gone there unrepresented or with a lawyer that doesn't specialise in traffic law. All right, I'm pulling up to the Moranbah courthouse now, so as soon as I've found a park I'll head on in and then I'll let you know what the outcome was when I get back. So, all right. I'll see you all soon.

Dean of Strathpine writes, "Andrew Wiseman is the only lawyer in Queensland anybody should see with traffic and DUI offenses. I have a habitual traffic history going back fifteen years. I sought Andrew Wiseman to help out my recent DUI charge. I was preparing myself for the slot. Andrew told me he would do his best to keep me out, and that he sure did, weaving his utter magic and talent, getting me a two month disqualification and a $400 fine. I have been in and out of courts for the last fifteen years. What Andrew Wiseman got me is unheard of. What a man. Thank you Mr. Wiseman. You're worth every cent."

Right-o. Job done. All right, so as expected I was a little bit overzealous. As soon as I made my submission of six months I could see the magistrate glance at me over his glasses and that told me that it wasn't going to happen despite the fact that I thought I'd pushed the option pretty hard. Look, to be fair, I think it should have been six months, but on the flip side he was only charged two weeks ago so he'd only been off the road a very short time and it's ordinarily easier to get the minimum six months when there's been some kind of delay from the moment of interception and the court date. But, anyway I'll get to the point, seven months is what the magistrate decided was appropriate.

When he gave me that visual clue that I was not going to get the minimum six months I then did hand up that case law that I was referring to earlier on, where that person was charged with far more serious driving offenses and behaved in a far more dangerous and erratic manner and he got eight months and I was able to persuade the magistrate that a window of six to eight months was appropriate if he wasn't going to get on board with my submission of six months. So he got seven months, starting from today's date. As I said, he will be completely off the road because when you're high range you're not eligible to apply for work licence, and he did get a modest fine, as well.

All right, so that's me finished in in Moranbah. I'm now heading to Rockhampton. So today's Thursday job in Moranbah, tomorrow job in Rockhampton. It's just quicker and easier for me to drive a rental car direct to Rockhampton then fly to Brisbane because there's no direct flights. So, yeah I'll do that five hour journey now and thanks much again for watching, and I'm going to be filming another episode in Rockhampton tomorrow and I hope you can watch that. Alright. Cheers, take care.