Young driver gets a second chance

Our client was a 19-year-old male who received penalty notices for two offences relating to the conditions placed on his provisional licence – one offence for not displaying P plates, and the other for driving a manual car while on an automatic provisional licence. The client had purchased a manual, second-hand car privately and had paid a $500 deposit. The seller was due to go on holiday, and fearing that he would lose his deposit if he didn’t pick up the car that day, our client went to pick up the car. Our client was eligible for his green P-plates 5 days later, which would have allowed him to drive the manual car. Shortly after picking up the car, our client was stopped by Police for going through an orange traffic light.

Once stopped, Police noticed that he was not displaying P plates, and was driving a manual car against the conditions on his licence. The client elected to have the penalty notices dealt with by the Court. We appeared on our client’s behalf and made oral submissions to the Magistrate, following which the matters were dismissed under Section 10(1)(a) of the Crimes Sentencing Procedure Act 1999 (NSW). This means that no conviction was recorded against our client, and the matter was dismissed completely. Our client keeps his demerit points and can now enjoy driving his new car.