The Court: Ballarat Magistrates Court
The Lawyer: Benjamin Smith
The Charges:
The Allegations:
The client was a delivery driver and was intercepted by the police while driving his van during routine traffic checks. A licence check revealed that VicRoads had suspended the client’s driver’s licence due to accumulated demerit points.
He was then caught by police driving his vehicle during the suspension period. The client claimed that he had never received the notification from VicRoads despite having lived at the same address for four years.
At Court:
The client said he had never received a letter from VicRoads stating that his licence was suspended, so he was completely unaware of the licence suspension. The client advised our solicitor that he noticed issues with mail delivery to his address, including missing utility bills and packages in the two months leading up to the intercept. He said he had spoken with his neighbours, who advised that they were also experiencing issues with mail delivery. The client, therefore, decided to lodge a written complaint with Australia Post.
Shortly after the client’s complaint, Australia Post acknowledged the issues, confirming that postal disruptions in the area were due to staff shortages and delivery errors.
Further, the client provided the documents regarding the complaint and Australia Post’s response to our solicitor. Upon reviewing the brief of evidence, our solicitor ascertained that the letter from VicRoads addressed to our client advising him of the suspension of his driver’s licence was dated exactly one week before the client had complained to Australia Post. This meant that the suspension letter would not have likely reached our client, given that Australia Post had conceded that they were experiencing issues with their mail delivery service during that period.
Our solicitor advised the client that he may have a defence of Honest and Reasonable Mistake, and could contest the charges.
Our solicitor submitted to the prosecutor during case conferencing that the client had a defence of an honest and reasonable mistake. The client believed his licence was still valid and had no reason to suspect it was suspended, especially since he had not received any notification. This was enough to convince a prosecutor that we could successfully defend the matter because the client had made an honest and reasonable mistake regarding his driver’s licence status.
Our solicitor provided the Australia Post confirmation letter to the prosecutor, effectively lending credibility to our client’s account of not receiving the suspension letter from VicRoads.
The Outcome:
During case conferencing, the prosecutor agreed to withdraw the charges against the client. A formal application in court was made, and the charges were withdrawn.
What can be considered an ‘honest and reasonable mistake’ is assessed on a case-by-case basis. This was an excellent outcome for the client as the matter was finalised at the second court appearance, and she was not required to go through the stress of a contested hearing.
