Traffic law in NSW
Removing a licence disqualification in NSW
If you have stayed off the road and out of trouble, you do not have to wait out the whole disqualification. Since 2017 the Local Court has been able to wipe every outstanding disqualification you are subject to, including the legacy of a habitual traffic offender declaration. Getting it wrong costs you twelve months, because a refused application cannot be remade before then.
Check eligibility before you spend anything
A single conviction from years ago can make you permanently ineligible no matter how long you have waited, and a refusal locks you out for twelve months. Send us your driving record and we will tell you whether the application is worth making. Call 0407 171 626 (Alicia) or 0407 534 594 (Michelle).
Catron Simmons Lawyers act for disqualified drivers applying to the Local Court for removal orders across New South Wales, from Sydney and the Hills District to the regions.
The scheme sits in Division 3A of Part 7.4 of the Road Transport Act 2013, sections 221A to 221F. It commenced on 28 October 2017, alongside the abolition of the habitual traffic offender scheme, and it was built for exactly the drivers that scheme had left carrying disqualifications running years or decades into the future.
Two things are worth understanding before you go further. This is an application, not an appeal, so it is not about arguing the original sentence was wrong. And the court removes all your outstanding disqualifications or none of them. There is no partial order.
Three gates
Are you eligible?
You have to get through all three. The first two are absolute, and no amount of good behaviour cures them.
No never eligible offence, ever
A conviction at any time in your life for one of the offences listed below bars you permanently, whether or not a disqualification was imposed for it. There is no waiting period that fixes this.
Not a mandatory interlock disqualification
A disqualification imposed under section 211(1)(b) or 214(2), that is the disqualification attached to a mandatory interlock order, cannot be removed under this scheme. You serve it and then enter the interlock program.
The offence free period
Four years or two, depending on your record. This is the one people get wrong, and the rule is not what most websites say it is. Set out in full below.
The never eligible offences
Defined in section 221A. A conviction for any of these, at any time, ends the enquiry:
- murder or manslaughter caused by the use of a motor vehicle
- an offence against the Crimes Act 1900 that comprises or includes causing death, grievous bodily harm or wounding by the use of a motor vehicle
- predatory driving under section 51A, or police pursuit under section 51B, of the Crimes Act 1900
- negligent driving under section 117(1) causing death or grievous bodily harm
- intentional menacing driving under section 118(1)
- failing to stop and assist after a vehicle impact causing death or grievous bodily harm, under section 52AB of the Crimes Act 1900 or section 146 of the Road Transport Act
If the court makes a removal order and a never eligible offence later comes to light, section 221F allows the matter to be reheard and the order set aside. Disclosure is not optional, and it is another reason to have the record checked properly before lodging.
The rule most sites get wrong
The offence free period, four years or two
You must not have been convicted of a driving offence committed during the relevant offence free period. A driving offence here means a major offence, or any offence under the road transport legislation relating to the driving of a motor vehicle, excluding parking offences.
Section 221A
Which period applies to you
The clock runs backwards from the date the Local Court determines your application, not from the date you lodge it and not from the date of any conviction.
If convicted of a listed offence committed in that window
In every other case
Lockout after a refusal
When four years applies
The four year period applies if you have been convicted of any of the following, committed within the four years before your application is determined, whether or not the disqualification imposed for it has finished:
- a major offence, which includes drink driving, driving under the influence, driving with an illicit substance, refusing a breath, blood or oral fluid sample, and the death and grievous bodily harm driving offences
- exceeding a speed limit by more than 30 kilometres per hour
- street racing under section 115(1), aggravated burnout under section 116(2), or furious, reckless or dangerous driving under section 117(2)
When two years applies
Two years applies where all of your outstanding disqualifications were imposed because you were declared a habitual traffic offender, and two years applies in every other case. In practice that covers the great majority of applicants, including most people disqualified for driving while disqualified, unlicensed driving or accumulating demerit points.
The four year test is about your recent record, not the original offence
This changed in 2018 and a great deal of published material, including on other law firm websites, still describes the old rule. The question is not what your existing disqualification was imposed for. It is whether you have been convicted of a listed offence committed inside the four year window. A driver disqualified for a serious matter six years ago, with nothing since, is on the two year period, not the four.
Section 221A(2) also puts it beyond argument that the date of conviction is irrelevant. What matters is when the offence was committed. A conviction recorded last month for driving that happened five years ago does not restart your clock.
Where the application is won
What the court has to consider
Eligibility only gets you in the door. The order is discretionary, and section 221B(2) sets out what the Local Court must take into account. An application that addresses each of these directly, with material rather than assertion, is a different document from one that does not.
- The safety of the public. The first consideration and the one everything else is measured against.
- Your driving record, including the part before the offence free period, offences under the road transport legislation generally, and any pending proceedings.
- Whether you drove, or were in a position to drive, during the offence free period.
- Your conduct since the disqualifications were imposed.
- The nature of the offences that gave rise to the disqualifications.
- Any other relevant circumstances, expressly including the effect of the disqualification on your family and carer responsibilities, on your ability to travel for work, business, education or training, and your health, your finances and what transport is available to you.
The factor people misunderstand
Whether you were “in a position to drive” cuts against the applicant who had no car and no opportunity. Sitting out a disqualification because there was no vehicle available is not the same as having keys in the drawer and choosing not to use them. If you had access to a vehicle and did not drive it, say so and prove it. That is the strongest single piece of evidence in most of these applications.
Pending proceedings count
Pending proceedings are defined in section 221A and include an unpaid penalty notice where no election has been made, no enforcement order has issued, and no decision has been made to withdraw it. So an unpaid parking or camera fine sitting in the background is visible to the court. Clear these before you lodge.
The court can adjourn so you can do a course
Section 221B(7) lets the Local Court adjourn the application so you can participate in a driver education course. The Traffic Offender Intervention Program is the obvious one, and completing it before the hearing rather than being sent away to do it is worth a great deal on an application that turns on public safety. Check the provider is on the Local Court’s registered list.
The process
How to apply
Get your driving record from Transport for NSW
Complete the Driving record application for disqualification removal order, or collect a copy from any Service NSW centre. Your proof of identity documents must be certified by an authorised witness, and the categories of witness are listed on the second page. There is no fee for a disqualified driver.
Send it to Transport for NSW
Email DisqualificationRemovalOrders@transport.nsw.gov.au, or post to Transport for NSW, Disqualification Removal Orders, Locked Bag 14, Grafton NSW 2460. Note the address ends in transport.nsw.gov.au. The old rms.nsw.gov.au address is still quoted in a lot of places and should not be used.
Read the eligibility status letter carefully
Transport for NSW reviews your record and returns a copy of it with a covering letter saying whether, on its assessment, you appear eligible. That letter is an administrative view, not a decision. It is not binding on the Local Court, and it is worth having it checked, because the eligibility rules are more subtle than the letter suggests.
File the application in the Local Court
Complete the Local Court’s application to remove driver licence disqualification, made under section 221C. It must attach your certified driving record and the Transport for NSW letter, and it must set out any pending proceedings. A cover letter explaining why the order should be made is where the section 221B(2) factors get addressed. A filing fee applies, and a waiver may be available on Centrelink or hardship grounds.
Attend the hearing
The court will want current information, so if the record has aged since it was issued, expect to update it. We prepare the supporting material, brief the application properly and appear for you.
If you are not currently disqualified, Transport for NSW will not issue you a driving record under this process, because the scheme only operates on disqualifications that are still on foot.
The downside risk
If your application is refused
You cannot make another application for the removal of those disqualifications for twelve months from the refusal. You remain disqualified throughout, and driving while disqualified in the meantime carries a fine of up to $3,300, up to six months’ imprisonment and a further disqualification on top of the one you are already serving.
There is no appeal
Section 221B(8) expressly excludes an appeal under the Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 against a Local Court decision under this Division. This is unusual and it matters. There is no second bite in the District Court, so the application you file is the only one you get for a year.
The one limited exception is section 221B(9). If your application was dismissed while you were not in attendance, you can apply to have the dismissal annulled, and if the court is satisfied there is just cause it can deal with the application as though it had never been dismissed. That is a remedy for not being there, not for losing.
Almost there
If the order is made
Do not drive until you hold a new licence
The order removes the disqualification. It does not give you a licence. Your old licence was cancelled or expired long ago, so you must apply to Service NSW for a new one and complete whatever testing applies to you. Driving in the gap between the order and the licence is an offence under section 54(4), driving after cancellation, carrying up to $3,300 and six months’ imprisonment on a first offence with an automatic six month disqualification. People do this, having just been told not to in open court.
Clear your fines first
Service NSW will not issue a licence, and can suspend one already issued, while there is an outstanding fine debt. The Local Court application form says so in terms. Sort out a payment plan, a Work and Development Order or a hardship review with Revenue NSW before you get to this point rather than after.
Your record is checked again
Transport for NSW reviews the record once more before issuing a licence. If an offence surfaces that the court did not know about, section 221E allows the matter to be relisted and reheard, and no licence issues until that is resolved. Section 221F does the same where a never eligible offence comes to light.
When the order takes effect
Removed disqualifications cease to have effect on the date the order is made, or on a later date if the court specifies one. The registrar notifies Transport for NSW and the Commissioner of Police.
Legacy disqualifications
Habitual traffic offender declarations
Under the old scheme, a person convicted of three major traffic offences within five years was declared a habitual traffic offender, and each declaration added a further five year disqualification on top of everything else. Stacked declarations produced disqualifications running for decades, which was the problem the 2017 reforms were written to solve.
The scheme was repealed on 28 October 2017. No new declarations can be made. But declarations made before then remain in force, and the additional disqualifications attached to them are still being served by people today.
If that is you, this scheme is your remedy, and the offence free period is two years where all your outstanding disqualifications came from habitual traffic offender declarations. If you are looking at a disqualification that expires some time in the 2030s because of orders made a decade ago, the application is very likely worth making.
Why Catron Simmons
Why drivers choose us
We check eligibility before you commit
A never eligible conviction from fifteen years ago, or a listed offence just inside the four year window, will sink an application that looks fine on the Transport for NSW letter. We read the record properly first, because a refusal costs you a year.
The application is evidence, not assertion
Section 221B(2) tells the court exactly what to weigh. We put material in front of it on each factor, particularly whether you were in a position to drive and chose not to, which is the point most applications simply do not address.
Wherever you are
We appear in Local Courts across New South Wales, and these applications are frequently made in regional courts where the loss of a licence bites hardest and public transport is not an answer.
You deal with a principal
We are a boutique firm. You talk to the solicitor who will appear for you, not a call centre, and we are contactable outside business hours.
Common questions
Removing a disqualification: your questions answered
How long do I have to wait before I can apply?
Two years in most cases, or four years if you have been convicted of a major offence, exceeding a speed limit by more than 30km/h, street racing, aggravated burnout, or furious, reckless or dangerous driving, committed within the four years before your application is determined. The period runs backwards from the date the court decides your application, and it is the date the offence was committed that counts, not the date of conviction.
Does the four year period apply because my original disqualification was for drink driving?
Not on its own. The rule changed in 2018 and is now about your recent record rather than the reason for the existing disqualification. If the drink driving offence was committed more than four years before your application is determined and you have had nothing since, you are on the two year period. A lot of published material still describes the old rule, so check the dates on your own record rather than relying on it.
Are there offences that make me permanently ineligible?
Yes. A conviction at any time for murder or manslaughter by motor vehicle, a Crimes Act offence causing death, grievous bodily harm or wounding by motor vehicle, predatory driving, police pursuit, negligent driving causing death or grievous bodily harm, intentional menacing driving, or failing to stop and assist after an impact causing death or grievous bodily harm bars you permanently. It applies whether or not a disqualification was imposed for that offence, and no waiting period cures it.
Can I have a mandatory interlock disqualification removed?
No. Section 221D(2) excludes the disqualification imposed as part of a mandatory interlock order from this scheme. That period has to be served, after which you enter the interlock program and can apply for an interlock driver licence.
Can the court remove just some of my disqualifications?
No. The order removes all licence disqualifications you are subject to at the time, or the application is refused. There is no partial order, which is why a single problematic disqualification in the group can affect the whole application.
What if my application is refused?
You cannot apply again for twelve months, and you remain disqualified throughout. There is no appeal, because section 221B(8) excludes appeals under the Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act against decisions under this Division. The only limited remedy is an annulment where the application was dismissed in your absence.
Can I drive as soon as the court makes the order?
No. The order removes the disqualification but does not give you a licence. You must apply to Service NSW and complete any required testing first. Driving in the meantime is driving after cancellation under section 54(4), carrying up to $3,300 and six months’ imprisonment on a first offence, plus a fresh automatic disqualification.
Do unpaid fines affect my application?
Yes, in two ways. An unpaid penalty notice for an alleged driving offence can count as pending proceedings, which the court must take into account. And separately, Service NSW will not issue you a licence while a fine debt is outstanding, so an order in your favour will not get you back on the road until the debt is dealt with.
I was declared a habitual traffic offender years ago. Can I apply?
Yes, and this scheme was written with you in mind. The declarations themselves were abolished in 2017 but existing ones remain in force, complete with their additional five year disqualifications. Where all of your outstanding disqualifications came from habitual traffic offender declarations, the offence free period is two years.
Keep reading
Related traffic law pages
Get started
Want your licence back early? Let’s talk today.
Send us your driving record and the Transport for NSW eligibility letter if you have one. We will tell you which offence free period applies, whether anything on your record bars you, and whether the application is worth making now or worth waiting on.