Lost your licence for demerit points? You may be eligible for a restricted licence

Demerit point suspensions are one of the most common reasons people seek a restricted licence in Tasmania. If you have accumulated too many demerit points and your licence has been suspended, the rules for applying for a restricted licence are different from drink or drug driving cases. The key issue is whether you were offered a Period of Good Behaviour and what you did with it.

How demerit suspensions differ from court disqualifications

There are two main ways you can lose your licence in Tasmania: administrative suspension and court disqualification. Understanding which one applies to you matters, because the eligibility rules are different.

A demerit point suspension is administrative. It happens automatically when you accumulate too many demerit points from traffic infringements. No court is involved in the suspension itself. The Registrar of Motor Vehicles suspends your licence based on the points you have accrued.

A court disqualification is imposed by a magistrate as part of a sentence for a driving offence. This is what happens when you are convicted of drink driving, drug driving, dangerous driving, or another offence that carries a disqualification.

Both types of licence loss can lead to a restricted licence application, but the Period of Good Behaviour rules only apply to demerit point suspensions. If your licence was taken away by a court, the POGB provisions are not relevant to your case.

Period of Good Behaviour (POGB)

When you reach the demerit point threshold, you are typically offered a choice: accept the licence suspension, or enter into a Period of Good Behaviour. A POGB allows you to keep driving, but on strict conditions. If you accumulate any further demerit points during the POGB period, you breach it and face a longer suspension.

The critical rule for demerit point cases is in section 18(2)(a) of the Vehicle and Traffic Act 1999. It says:

A person whose licence is suspended because of demerit points and who had the option of entering into an undertaking to be of good behaviour but did not take up that option is not entitled to apply for a restricted driver licence.

In plain language: if you were offered a POGB and chose not to accept it — choosing the suspension instead — you cannot apply for a restricted licence. The law treats the POGB as the alternative you were given, and if you turned it down, the restricted licence pathway is closed.

This is one of the few absolute bars in the restricted licence system. It does not matter how strong your hardship case is. If you declined an available POGB, the court cannot grant you a restricted licence.

What if you accepted the POGB and then breached it?

A POGB is breached by accumulating further demerit points during the good behaviour period. If you accepted the POGB but then breached it, you face a longer suspension for the breach.

Importantly, this is a different situation from declining the POGB. Because you did accept the POGB, the bar in s.18(2)(a) does not apply. You may still be eligible for a restricted licence, assessed on its merits under the standard hardship test.

Note that if you committed a drink or drug driving offence while on a POGB, that is a separate matter — it results in its own disqualification under the Road Safety (Alcohol and Drugs) Act 1970, regardless of the POGB. The eligibility rules for that disqualification are different. See our pages on restricted licences after drink driving and restricted licences after drug driving.

What the court considers

If you are eligible to apply, the court must be satisfied of three things before it can grant a restricted licence. These are set out in section 18(5) of the Vehicle and Traffic Act 1999:

1. The suspension is imposing, or will impose, severe and unusual hardship on you or your dependants.
2. A restricted licence should be issued to mitigate that hardship.
3. Issuing the licence would not be contrary to the public interest.

This is the same hardship test that applies to all restricted licence applications, regardless of the reason for the suspension. "Severe and unusual" means something more than ordinary inconvenience. The court needs to see that losing your licence causes hardship that goes beyond what any person would experience. For more on what this involves and the kinds of evidence that help, see our page on the hardship test.

Common situations in demerit point cases

Demerit point suspensions tend to affect people who drive regularly, often for work. The types of hardship arguments that commonly arise in these cases include:

• Work-related driving: You need your licence to get to work, or driving is part of your job. If losing your licence means losing your employment, and there is no reasonable alternative, this is the most common basis for a hardship argument.
• Rural and regional areas: Tasmania has limited public transport outside Hobart and Launceston. If you live in a rural area where there is no bus service and no practical way to get to work, medical appointments, or essential services, the hardship is more likely to be "severe and unusual."
• Caring responsibilities: If you are responsible for transporting dependants — children to school, elderly parents to medical appointments — and no one else can do it, this supports a hardship claim.
• Self-employment and sole traders: If you run your own business and rely on driving to operate it, losing your licence can threaten your livelihood and the livelihoods of anyone who depends on your income.

The strength of your case depends on the specifics. A person in central Hobart with access to buses faces a harder argument than a farmer on the West Coast who has no alternative transport.

Frequently asked questions