apply before you’re sentenced
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If you’ve been charged anywhere around Nambour, Woombye, Yandina, Palmwoods, Bli Bli, Burnside, Coes Creek or Eumundi, your drink or drug driving charge — and your work licence application — is heard at Nambour Magistrates Court, 156–168 Currie Street. Your work licence is applied for at the court where the charge is listed. Not sure where yours is? Call us and we’ll confirm it in a minute.
A work licence (properly a restricted licence) lets you keep driving for work during the disqualification that follows a drink or drug driving conviction. It’s only for low and mid range charges — a reading under 0.15 — and it has to be applied for before you’re sentenced. It’s a different thing to a special hardship order, which is for demerit-point and high-speed suspensions.
What it does
When to apply
The application must be filed and decided before you plead guilty and are sentenced for the drink or drug driving charge. Once you’re convicted without one, it’s too late — so getting advice early is everything.
You held an open Queensland licence when charged · reading under 0.15 · no drink/drug conviction or disqualification in the last 5 years · you’re a fit and proper person · and losing your licence would cause you or your family extreme hardship — usually loss of income.
Answer four quick questions and see roughly where you stand. This is general guidance, not a guarantee — the affidavit and how it’s argued are what win a work licence.
General guidance only, not legal advice. Confirm your answer with a lawyer on 1300 952 255, free.
You’re a fit and proper person having regard to the safety of other road users, and losing your licence causes extreme hardship (to your income). Mere inconvenience is never enough.
A work licence (a restricted licence under s 87 of the Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act) applies to low and mid range drink or drug driving — a reading under 0.15. It must be applied for at the Magistrates Court hearing your charge, before you’re sentenced. High range, DUI and refusals don’t qualify; demerit-point and high-speed suspensions need a special hardship order instead.
Two things: that you are a fit and proper person to hold a work licence, and that refusing it would cause extreme hardship by depriving you of your means of earning a living. Inconvenience — or simply finding it hard to get or drive for work — is never enough on its own, which is why how the application is framed matters so much.
The application must be made before you’re sentenced — once you’re convicted without one, the chance is gone. If granted, the work licence comes with strict conditions on when and why you can drive (work purposes only); breaching them is a fresh offence, so understanding the conditions is as important as getting the licence.
All of it included in the $2,990 fixed fee — quoted in writing before you commit.
Steven founded the firm in 2010, and work licence applications have been part of the practice from day one. We’ve kept thousands of Queenslanders driving for work after a drink or drug driving charge, right across South East Queensland.
Call us and you’ll speak with Belinda or Sara — no scripts, no queue, no being passed around. Belinda has 24 years in the legal industry and has taken thousands of these calls; the first thing she’ll do is put you at ease.
7am–7pm, 7 days · or request a phone conference
Work licence applications for the Sunshine Coast hinterland are heard together with your drink or drug driving charge at Nambour Magistrates Court, 156–168 Currie Street. A magistrate travels up from Maroochydore to hear the list — and the bench our lawyers appear before regularly, which is exactly why we know what a magistrate here wants to see.
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Your work licence is applied for at the same Magistrates Court that hears your drink or drug driving charge. For the Sunshine Coast hinterland — around Nambour, Woombye, Yandina, Palmwoods, Bli Bli, Burnside, Coes Creek or Eumundi — that’s Nambour Magistrates Court, 156–168 Currie Street. Not sure where your charge is listed? Call us and we’ll tell you in a minute.
Yes — critically, a work licence must be applied for and granted before you are sentenced. Plead guilty and get convicted first, and it’s too late. Get advice as soon as you’re charged.
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Instant answers on the difference from dangerous driving, penalties, the death/GBH offence, and what happens at court — trained on Steven’s guides. For advice on your situation, it hands you straight to a human.
