Hey guys, I'm a long time follower of this website, but this is my first official post.
My license expired on the 11th of December 2011, and I have been interstate until two days ago. I decided to just go for my full license instead of paying for another P2 license. Today, when I went to the RTA, I was told that my license has been suspended for 3 months from the 21-02-2012 to the 21-05-2012. I was shocked and didn't know why. I was told that I had two driving offences on my P2 license. One from May of 2010, and the other from July of 2011. I was speeding by about 6 or 7 km's over the limit, and I was done both times for 10km and under. When I received the fines in 2010 and 2011, they both said it is a 1 demerit point offence, so I didn't think I would be suspended. Today, the RTA told me that my license was suspended on the 30th of July 2011, but because I didn't PHYSICALLY come in to the RTA, the license suspension wasn't activated. This is ridiculous. I am getting suspended for 3 months, over an incident that occured 8 months ago. I never received a letter from the RTA, only the letter for the infringment notice. My car didn't need any registration, my license wasn't expired, and I didn't receive any letters from the RTA, so why the bloody hell would I go in to the RTA. I didn't even know about it. I argued with the RTA, but they said, even though it has been almost 8 months since my license suspension, the 3 months period will start from the day I go into the RTA and 'activate' my suspension, which was today. I said I was going to take it to court, but they told me not to bother because I am a P2 driver, and the courts are not lenient on speeding, and I would just be wasting my time and money. On the official RTA website it says
"If your licence has expired or is about to expire, a Notice of Suspension will not be issued. Instead, you will be refused a licence when you attend a motor registry and apply for a licence renewal. You will be formally advised of the refusal and a Notice of Refusal will be issued."
Does this mean I don't have any ground to act on? I mean, I find it absurd that I was not at least notified of this for 8 months. If I knew, I would have gone and got this whole mess straightened out, served my 3 month suspension, and been driving by October of 2011. My license wasn't expired at the time of the offence on July 2011, so I don't know what I can do.
Please help me out fellas, give me some advice, should I take this to the courts? I go to uni, I work, and I am the only person in my family who drives, so I have a lot of duties and responsibilities. Should, I just cop it on the chin and do the 3 month suspension, or should I appeal it. Is there any appeal process that is free, or will I have to pay a lot of legal fees.
Thanks in ad vance guys;
Will
