MAROOCHYDORE: High Range DUI Drink Driving 0.179

RIDE ALONG:

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

MAROOCHYDORE MAGISTRATES COURT:

Andrew Wiseman represents 2 clients charged with DUI Drink Driving at Maroochydore 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 .

Hi, I'm Andrew Wiseman, and welcome to Wiseman Lawyers Court Ride Alongs.

Does your licence need saving? Do the wise thing. Call Wiseman Lawyers. Does your licence need saving? Do the wise thing. Call Wiseman Lawyers. Don't face that court alone. Let the Wiseman team get you back on the road. 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 law firm. When I say truly dedicated traffic law firm, all we do is loss of licence, prevention and minimisation of loss of licence, and we only service Queensland. That said, we service every court in Queensland, we'll go everywhere from Coolangatta to Cooktown. Last month we were at Gladstone, Townsville, Mount Isa, Moranbah twice, Bundaberg. Next week I'm in Mackay, you name it we will go there, and all we do is prevention and minimisation of loss of licence.

The premise of this show, you guys join me in the Wiseman Lawyers Toyota 86. I drive to court. While driving to court with you guys I'll explain the matters that I have on for the week with the facts, the matters that I have on the day in question. I'll explain the law and facts behind each one, the outcome that I'm seeking to achieve, and a little bit about how I expect to achieve it. I'll then go into court. You guys obviously can't come in with me, so there'll be a brief intermission, but then you'll join me back in the car where I'll debrief you on what the outcome was. You can judge for yourselves whether the outcome matched or was close to the forecast that I gave on the way to court. A little bit about how I achieved the outcome and the client's thoughts on the outcome, whether they were happy or disappointed or whatever.

So today I'm heading to Maroochydore Magistrates Court. I've got two matters on. The first is a young lady, she's actually on her L-plates and she was caught mid-range. So when I say mid-range, she was caught between point .1 and .15. Two issues: She was driving by herself, so she was an L-plater unaccompanied, and secondly, L-platers are supposed to be zero blood alcohol. The maximum disqualification is 12 months. I'm going to be pushing for the mandatory minimum three months. It's physically impossible to get any less than that, but that's what I'm pushing for, for a number of reasons. She works in hospitality, she had been taking steps to get her P-plates, getting lessons and such. And while she's on her Ls she's only able to obtain casual work and as soon as she's able to achieve her P-plates she will be offered full time employment by her current employer. So whatever disqualification she gets today is going to, obviously, prevent her from getting her P-plates for some time. Ideally no more than three months, but, as I said, worst case scenario 12 months.

The other gentleman that I'm acting for blew high range, .179. There is no maximum. The magistrate's got the power to give an absolute loss of licence. Mandatory minimum is six months. I'm going to be seeking the minimum six months for a number of reasons. He's a limousine driver so, obviously, anyone who is in the transport industry cannot work without a licence. So every day he spends off the road he's unemployed, and, unfortunately, that's the case. He was a self-employed limousine driver. Another big company used to subcontract him, but now he's lost all work. He's had to move in with his parents, and for a 40 year old man, obviously, that's got its own issues to go with it. He's keen to get back in the workforce as soon as possible, and I'm going to try to achieve that for him. As I said, the mandatory minimum is six months, physically impossible to get any less than that, but that's what I'm going to be seeking today. All right, I'm pulling into the court now, so I'll join you guys back in the car after I finish

Matthew of Townsville writes, "Andrew represented me after a high end DUI that would have had various severe consequences for my future of obtaining employment in the United States. He was a rock star in the court room, and made every other lawyer in the room look like rookies. Not only did he help me get no recorded conviction so I can continue my dream, but he was very reassuring throughout the entire process. His preparation and confidence was impressive, and I would recommend him to anybody. I mean every word of it. Thank you very much to everyone at Wiseman lawyers."

The first young lady, as I said, she blew .116 whilst as an L-plater, so she was charged with mid-range DUI and driving as an L-plater unaccompanied. I was able to achieve a fine only for the unaccompanied charge. For the DUI, as you might remember me saying that the maximum is 12 months, mandatory minimum of three, and that's what I achieved for her today, so she got three months starting from today. And obviously, as an L-plater, what that means is she can't do any driving lessons in the next three months. Probably more importantly, she's unable to apply for her P-plates until three months from now. One of the issues that I pushed with her was she works in hospitality and while she's unable to drive by herself, she's only ever going to be availing herself to part time work, but she has been doing her lessons and doing everything that she can to get her Ps so she can get a full time salary.

Now, the other gentleman, he was high-range. He blew .179. He did have a very old previous drink driving. Generally when they're more than 10 years old, while the magistrate will have note of them, they're not particularly, I shouldn't say concerned, but I will for this conversation say that they're not particularly concerned, not so much as they would be if they had one in the last five years or sooner. But yeah, .179, with him there's no maximum. The magistrate, if he wanted to, could have given him an absolute, which is legal jargon for a lifetime loss of licence. The mandatory minimum is six months, but that mandatory minimum kicks in at .15, and, obviously, the further north of .15 you go, the harder it is to get it close to the mandatory minimum. As I said, .179, I achieved an eight-month disqualification for him. So while it wasn't the mandatory minimum of six months. . .What I said to the magistrate was, "Six to eight months is appropriate." I like to give him that window, particularly when they're well over .15 and whilst it wasn't at the bottom end of the window, it was still within the window that I put forward. Both clients got a fine which was, they were both referred to the State Penalties Enforcement Registry, which means that they'll get a letter saying, "You owe us X, please give us $50 a month," for example.

All right, so that's Monday done and dusted. The rest of the week we've got jobs at Brisbane City, three tomorrow at Brisbane City, two drink driving matters and one demerit points special hardship licence application as well as matters at Beenleigh and Southport, they're both drink driving matters as well. I'm not going to take up any more of your time discussing the other matters we have this week. But just so you know what we do and where we go, and as I said, when I fly to Mackay shortly, I'll do a special episode.v Unfortunately it won't be in the Toyota 86, on that occasion, but nonetheless you guys will be along for the ride.

All right, thanks for watching. Please put any comments good or bad that you may have below, or simply give a thumbs up or a thumbs down. This series is going to be going for a very long time. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.

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.