Section 10 for High-Range Drink Driving

Astor Legal recently were successful in persuading a Judge to allow an appeal and sentence our client to a Section 10 for high-range drink driving.

The client was a 26-year-old truck driver. He had recently come to Australia by himself to earn money and support his family financially overseas.

On the day of the offence he was at a friend’s house where he had consumed a significant amount of alcohol. The plan was for the friend to drive our client home at the end of the night. On the journey home, the client’s friend had to pull over to go to urinate. He left our client in the vehicle. Unfortunately, he parked the vehicle in a ‘no stopping’ zone where the vehicle was at risk of being hit by passing cars.

Our client waited for some time but his friend did not return, nor did he answer his phone. Eventually, our client called the police himself. However, he also drove the vehicle to a safer location a few metres away. The length of time he drove was but a few seconds.

When police arrived our client made admissions to driving. He was charged with drive with high-range PCA.

He was represented in the Local Court by other solicitors and a barrister where he received a conviction. He filed an appeal and came to us after seeing our article on how to get a section 10 for mid range drink driving.

We commenced preparing the matter in detail by arranging for our client’s friend to give evidence in court to confirm his version of events. We also obtained references from his family overseas as well as his employer.

In court, our Parramatta drink driving lawyers called our client’s friend as a witness and questioned him on the events of the night, as well as our client’s character generally. We then made lengthy and detailed submissions, often having to respond to pushback from the Judge who noted that high range drink driving offences almost always result in a criminal conviction.

But despite the Judge’s reservations, we were able to convince him that our client’s circumstances were so unique that it warranted a significant departure from the usual sentence imposed.

In the result, our client received a Section 10 for the drink driving offence. As such he has no conviction on his record and can continue driving. He was ecstatic with the result, as was his family.