Your licence

3.1Automatic and minimum periods

On conviction for a first offence under s 111 the court must disqualify the offender for the automatic period, which the practitioner understands to be six months, unless it orders a shorter period, which cannot be less than the minimum, understood to be three months [review: s 205 and the table of disqualification periods; second-offence periods of twelve and six months]. The court has no power to decline to disqualify on conviction. This asymmetry, discretion to reduce but not to waive, is the single fact that organises the course: the licence argument is a s 10 argument first and a length argument second.

3.2Commencement and surrender

The disqualification runs from the date of the order unless the court orders otherwise. The licence is surrendered at the registry or to Service NSW, and Transport for NSW records the disqualification against the driving record. Lesson 17 deals with the day itself; the point for this lesson is that the client who has not arranged transport home from court has not understood the advice.

3.3Demerit points and interlock

The disqualification is a court order and operates independently of the demerit point scheme; whether points also attach to a s 111 conviction is a matter to be confirmed [review]. The mandatory alcohol interlock program under Division 2 of Part 7.4 of the Act attaches to specified alcohol offences and not to s 111 [review: confirm interlock scope]; clients who have read general drink-driving material commonly expect one, and the expectation should be corrected early.

3.4The absence of a hardship licence

NSW does not provide a work or hardship licence for a s 111 disqualification [review]. Interstate material, particularly from Queensland, causes confusion here. The hardship that a work licence would have addressed is instead deployed as evidence in the s 10 submission and, on conviction, in the submission to reduce the period to the minimum.