A magistrate has warned two people caught driving while disqualified for the second and third time that jail is a possibility for those who continue to flout the law.
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Rebecca Clarke appeared in Bendigo Magistrates' Court on Monday and pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified and refusing an oral fluid test.
Clarke was intercepted by police in Koomba Street, White Hills on the morning of December 11 last year.
She was disqualified from driving, having lost her licence for four years for refusing to undertake an oral fluid test for drugs.
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Police conducted a preliminary breath test, which found no trace of alcohol, but Clarke refused to undergo the oral fluid test.
She told police she was a single parent trying to get to work to provide for her family.
Clarke told the court on Monday she usually had another means of getting to work, and was not "out driving because I've got nothing better to do".
Magistrate Megan Aumair noted it was Clarke's third offence for driving while disqualified, and told her jail was a possibility if she continued to drive.
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Ms Aumair fined Clarke $1000 with conviction.
Clarke was also disqualified from driving for another four years for refusing the oral fluid test.
A police application to seize Clarke's vehicle was adjourned to May to allow her to seek legal advice.
Another person, Lexton Hurdle, also pleaded guilty on Monday to driving while disqualified on the same morning as Clarke.
Police intercepted Hurdle in Eaglehawk about 8.05am on December 11.
Hurdle was disqualified from driving for 16 months in November 2017.
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He told police he was driving because he did not want his daughter to miss school or himself to miss work.
Hurdle told the court a workmate had been driving him to work, but went away, and he missed a few days of work and his daughter missed school because he did not have a means of transport.
Ms Aumair noted it was his second time being caught driving while disqualified.
"You need to take this very seriously," she said, telling Hurdle people were once sent to jail for such an offence.
Hurdle was convicted, fined $600 and disqualified from driving for another month.
A police application for forfeiture of his vehicle was also adjourned to May.
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Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
