Driver gave cops runaround

A TOOWOOMBA woman who gave police the runaround after being pulled over for disqualified driving has been handed a community service order and ordered off the roads for two years.

When pulled over by a police patrol on the New England Highway at Highfields about 4pm on October 30, last year, Joanne Maree Coogan had initially given her sister’s name to the officers, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

When police noted that the computer licence check of that woman found her to have different coloured eyes, Coogan told the officers she was wearing coloured contact lenses, police prosecutor Natalie Bugden told the court.

Wanting to check her ID, police asked 48-year-old to hand over her handbag which was on the car seat, but she had refused.

However, realising she was only making matters worse for herself, Coogan then took her Australian passport from the handbag and handed it to the police officers, Sergeant Bugden said.

Checks of her driving record found Coogan had been disqualified from driving by the court for six months on July 26 last year and that period was not due to expire until January 25, she said.

Coogan assured police it had been the first time she had driven since the disqualification was imposed and said she was driving to work because her husband was away and that a taxi cost about $60, Sgt Bugden said.

Coogan pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified by court order, obstructing police and contravening a police direction.

Her solicitor Drew Nelson, of Brisbane-based legal firm CNG Law, told the court his client had panicked at the time and was extremely remorseful for her behaviour and had apologised on the day.

His client had not been legally represented at the time she was suspended for six months by the court or she could have applied for a work licence, he said.

She had been getting a lift to work but on this day she had no way to get to her worksite where she was to open the business, he said.

The mandatory two-year driving disqualification would have a significant impact on his client as she needed her licence for work and it was her intention to resign from her employment, Mr Nelson submitted.

Telling her that driving while disqualified by court order was a very serious offence, Magistrate Robbie Davies fined Coogan $300 with no conviction recorded on the obstruct police and contravening a police direction charges but on the disqualified driving offence Coogan was ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid community service and was disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for the mandatory minimum of two years.