BRISBANE: Unlicensed Driving SPER Suspended

I appeared at Brisbane Magistrates Court this morning to represent a client charged with Unlicensed Driving Whilst SPER Suspended, or Suspended Driving.

SPER is an acronym for State Penalties Enforcement Registry.

SPER will suspend a person’s driver’s licence when they fail to pay moneys owed.

SPER debts usually arise from unpaid infringement notices or tolls, but they can arise from any debt owing to the State Government, or any person for the benefit of whom restitution has been ordered by the court.

SPER is effectively the State Government’s debt collection agency.

SPER will send a Notice of Intention to Suspend Driver’s Licence.

However, a lot of the time these notices are sent but not received.

Unfortunately, the law considers the suspension notice to be served upon posting.

Therefore, having not received the notice is not a defence to this charge.

My client today faced a maximum penalty of a 6 month driver’s licence disqualification, 1 year imprisonment and 40 penalty units.

At the time of authoring this, a penalty unit in Queensland is worth $113.85.

My client attended a reformatory course which allowed me to show to the Magistrate the lessons which my client had learned through his oversight.

I handed up several character references based on a template which I had previously provided the client.

I went into great detail about the potential real world consequences of a lengthy disqualification.

I managed to convince the Magistrate that the mandatory minimum 1 month licence disqualification was appropriate in this instance.

The client and his mother were very happy and relieved.

Regards

Andrew Wiseman, Wiseman Lawyers