Queensland Special Hardship Order Video: Driving After a High Speed or Good Behaviour Licence Suspension (QLD)

Good day, it's Josh from Boorman Lawyers. Today, in this video, I want to talk to you about applying for a special hardship order, which is a special hardship licence, which allows you the ability to obtain a restricted licence uh for the purposes of either continuing to work, uh drive for work, or um drive to care for someone uh to avoid significant hardship of some sort. Now, in relation to a special hardship order, these are restricted licences uh applications which can be applied for before the Magistrates Court in Queensland.

There's generally two types of cases where a person would want to apply for a special hardship order. Um The first case would be if a person is caught driving uh over 40 km over the speed limit, which is considered high-range speeding, then they will automatically be subject to a 6-month suspension from the Transport Department. Automatic. So, um if you're caught going over 40 km over the assigned speed limit, and you're caught, you'll be issued with a fine, and you will get a notice of suspension that will come through from the Transport Department uh indicating that you'll be off the road for at least 6 months.

Um the other type of scenario where you may want to apply for a special hardship order is where you've lost all your points, and you've opted to go on the good behaviour driver's licence, which is two points for 12 months. And then, during the course of that 12-month good behaviour period, you are caught with another infringement where you lose the two points, and you're in breach of the good the good behaviour driver's licence, and you're facing uh suspension from the transport department. So, these are usually the two scenarios where people will come along to us and ask whether they can effectively apply for a work licence, which is called a special hardship order in these situations.

Doesn't always uh apply for um work purposes only. It can also extend to being able to care for someone um in your family who um may be put to hardship if you are unable to continue driving. In relation to a special hardship order, there are there is a very strict eligibility criteria involved to even be able to apply for a special hardship order restricted licence. Um you can apply for one whether you're on an open, provisional, or a good behaviour licence. Um but um if you've lost your licence for any reason in the last 5 years, except for if you've uh lost your licence due to a a fine default suspension from SPER, um any other suspension within the last 5 years will preclude you from even applying for a special hardship order.

So, you really do have to be eligible to be able to apply for this particular application. Um it can become quite technical. You do need to um fill out a uh a specific court application form. That needs to have all the right information there. That needs to be filed at the court, and then served upon the Queensland Transport Department at least 1 week before the matter is to be heard at court. Uh further additional material needs to be um uh submitted, lodged with the court, and served on the transport department in support of your application.

Generally, this will come in the form of formal affidavit statements from the applicant themselves. And if they're employed and have a boss, then from the employer as well, supporting their application. There is some specific details that really do need to be put into the affidavits in order to be successful with special hardship order. Um much of it surrounds the need to be able to drive for work or to care for someone within the family who would otherwise be put at um significant hardship if you were unable to drive.

So, affidavits do need to prove that to the court. And um and all needs to be submitted at least a week before the application is heard. The prosecutors from the transport department will generally appear at the application hearing. If they don't have any problems with the eligibility or any issues surrounding the legal aspects of the application, they will inform the court that they don't object to the application, but of course, at the end of the day, the decision is the does lie with the magistrate of the court.

Certainly, if the transport department do have any specific eligibility or legal issues that they um that they have a problem with in relation to your application, they can certainly object to the application being successful, and the magistrate will take those objections on board um in relation to dealing with your special hardship order. It is effectively the last option that you to remain on the road and to continue driving if you've lost all your points or if you've been um caught driving at an extremely high speed on our roads.

Um but they can be quite technical applications. All the right information needs to be put together on paperwork and a lot of the success in these applications come from the well-prepared documents which is submitted to the court and the uh transport department. Of course, at the final hearing day, um it's a matter of turning up to court. The magistrate transport prosecutors will have all the material that have been submitted to court at least a week prior to the application and the um uh defendant or the defendant's solicitor will have the opportunity to give oral submissions to try and persuade the court to deal with this matter by granting a special hardship order for the um the the the applicant involved in the matter.