Holders of ‘Good Behaviour Licences’ frequently ask whether any suspension of their licence can be appealed.
The answer is, only if you:
- plead ‘not guilty’ and successfully defend the offence which caused the ‘breach’ of the good behaviour licence, or
- plead ‘guilty’ to the offence but the Magistrate exercises his or her discretion under a ‘section 10 dismissal or conditional release order‘ of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 not to record a conviction against you for the offence.
The Magistrate will normally only exercise his or her discretion under a non conviction order if:
- the offence is relatively trivial, and/or
- there are ‘extenuating circumstances’ (ie a good explanation) for why the offence was committed, and/or
- the consequences of a conviction which be disproportionately harsh.
Otherwise, any ‘breach’ of a good behaviour licence will result in double the suspension period that would have applied if you did not elect for a good behaviour licence; eg 6 months rather than 3 months in cases where the demerit point limit was reached.
