If you cannot attend
How to tell the court before the date, what a conviction in your absence does to a licence, and the annulment fix.
18.1Sentence in absence
The Local Court may deal with a matter in the offender's absence where the offender fails to appear, and for a s 111 matter that means a conviction on the facts sheet and certificate, a fine, and a disqualification commencing that day. Notice of the outcome is posted to the last known address [review]. The interval between the order and the offender's actual knowledge of it is the period of greatest risk, because the offender continues to drive, disqualified.
18.2Annulment
The remedy is an application for annulment under Part 2 of the Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001, made to the Local Court within two years of the conviction, on the grounds that the offender was not aware of the proceedings or was unable to attend for reasons that were not their fault [review: the current grounds and time limit]. If granted, the conviction is set aside and the matter is reheard. Annulment is distinct from appeal and the practitioner should not file the wrong one.
18.3The advice
Any client who has missed a court date on a driving matter is told, before anything else, not to drive until their licence status is confirmed. That advice is given the same day and confirmed in writing.
What a practitioner records at this stage
The date missed; the reason and the evidence for it; the licence status confirmed; the annulment application and its date.