Page updated on: Friday April 23, 2010
17-year old Shannon doesn’t have a drivers licence, but she’s learnt how to drive a car from some of her friends. One night when her parents are out at dinner, Shannon takes the car and goes to see one of her mates. On the way back home she is stopped by the Police.
Offence:
Driving without an appropriate driver licence – section 31 of the Land Transport Act 1998
It is an offence to drive a vehicle on a road with an expired driver licence or without an appropriate licence.
Penalty:
The maximum penalty is a fine of up to $1000.
Likely sentence:
Shannon speaks to the Duty Lawyer at court. The Duty Lawyer talks to the Police for her and they agree that if she gets her licence within six weeks, the Police will withdraw the charge. She is remanded without plea for six weeks to allow this to happen. Shannon is lucky that the Police agree to this – they don’t have to. If they won’t, Shannon is likely to get a fine of around $150.
Special notes:
If Shannon had been previously caught driving without a licence and “forbidden to drive”, the Police would have a record of this. They will then impound her parents’ car for 28 days. Her parents won’t be able to get the car back before then and will have to pay storage fees of around $400 unless they can prove to the Police that they did everything possible to prevent Shannon from taking the car. Often the Police will require that parents lay a complaint for unlawfully taking a car before they will agree to return it.