Man hit with big fines

DRIVING an unregistered and uninsured car while on a demerit point suspended licence hasn’t ended well for a Toowoomba man, who was slapped with a big fine and hefty period off the road.

Police stopped Baljit Kumar at a service station on Ruthven Street at about 5.55pm on February 11 this year, Toowoomba Magistrates Court was told.

Checks revealed that not only was the vehicle unregistered and uninsured, but the 34-year-old was driving with a licence that had been demerit point suspended.

Police prosecutor, Senior Constable Chris Willson, told the court that Kumar told police he was not insured or registered.

A few days later at 7.45am on February 15 Senior Constable Willson told the court Kumar was found at the same service station with the same vehicle, which was still unregistered and uninsured.

The following month on March 2 at 7.20am the court was told police stopped Kumar on Arrowfield Street in Wilsonton Heights, where a roadside drug test returned a positive reading to methylamphetamine.

In court on Monday Kumar pleaded guilty to driving while a relevant drug was present in his system, two counts of driving an uninsured vehicle, two counts of driving an unregistered vehicle, two counts of driving without a licence and contravening a direction of police.

Kumar’s solicitor Alysha Jacobsen said her client had previously been dealt with for unrelated driving offences on March 29 this year, where he was disqualified from driving for two years, and that the offences before the court had predated that sentence.

A former disability support worker who moved to Australia from India 12 years ago, Ms Jacobsen said her client had been without work since he was disqualified from driving as he was unable to find employment that did not require him to have a driver’s licence.

Ms Jacobsen told the court her client was aware the vehicle he was driving was uninsured and unregistered, and didn’t make the necessary payments as he was trying to sell the vehicle.

The court was told Kumar also didn’t realise he was demerit point suspended as the paperwork had been sent to his previous address.

Acting magistrate Lisa O’Neill said Kumar hadn’t made “any attempt” to abide by the road rules.

“The submission made by

Ms Jacobsen that you were driving when you knew that the vehicle was unregistered was very concerning,” she said.

“You shouldn’t have been driving it, that’s the bottom line. The road rules are designed to protect you, as a driver, and all the other road users and the registration and insurance requirements are to the benefit of road users generally.”

Kumar was fined $2000, and disqualified from holding a driver’s licence for 15 months. No convictions were recorded.