As soon as you apply or call us, we’ll set the process in motion to get you back behind the wheel and back to work as soon as possible.
Few businesses are designed to deal with life's major problems and resolve them efficiently for their customers. But when they are dealing with people in that space, you have to believe that there will be people angry with the authority that imposed the restriction, and suspended or disqualified them from driving, just like they may have an issue with the way the Police officer that ticketed them spoke to them, or the way they may have been flippant, rude or unhelpful. Thankfully we do not hear this very often about Police or Court or VTNZ staff.
That said, with every issue, there is a right way and a wrong way to deal with things. We try our best to resolve all suspensions with Police, the NZTA, the Courts and the applicant and driver as efficiently and effectively as possible. From time to time we have customers that do not want to hear what we have to tell them, refuse to listen even when we are directly only talking to them and the issue is only about their own drivers licence and it being suspended or disqualified. We have calls coming in constantly and we are always ringing people back to address their documentation, situations, alterations or changes they need to have made.
However we have to draw the line, we are people, and the matters and issues we resolve for our customers are legal and bound by laws that mean things must be done a certain way. Those ways are locked and mandatory. If we are faced with abuse, swearing etc, in any verbal or written communication, or a level of entitlement in any respect relating to the attitude of the applicant, or their situation (or anyone ringing us on the applicant's behalf), and if any applicant refers to Police as "pigs" or chooses to use any other derogatory name, we will then absolutely terminate the call, and cancel the application we are working on.
We do not, and we have no time to, nor interest in, entering into discussions about what was said or why. All our calls are recorded and we don't have to be abused twice to understand what happened and took place.
With Covid effecting the jobs, lives, incomes, relationships and health of the entire world – we are painfully aware exactly how much pressure there is on people. Many individuals are mature and able to be polite, and that enables us to get things done alot easier and effectively and some are simply so completely entitled that they are completely incapable of being respectful with anyone and things go south rapidly. We set up this business to help people so please allow us to help you by having a little patience and we will get you through this.
Every driver qualifies for their driver's licence when they are determined to have the knowledge, skills and judgement to make driving decisions that will ensure the safety of themselves, their passengers and most importantly, all other road users.
When drivers are suspended for demerit points, or worse – disqualified for a criminal driving offence, Police and the court will spell out to the driver the enormous penalties that will come next - in the event that the suspended and disqualified driver believes they are entitled enough to ignore the Police, NZTA, Land Transport Act and ultimately the District Court and the Judge.
We share the complete lack of any interest in drivers that drive while disqualified or drive while suspended. We, are all given the same opportunity when we qualify for a Drivers Licence, only some choose to attempt to enforce their extreme level of entitlement on the rest the road users of New Zealand. Drivers that drive while disqualified, or drive while suspended – fully deserve their criminal conviction, and the massive subsequent fines and further disqualification and ultimately prison time that follows.
In Timaru in 2021 a 19 year old driver killed 5 of his friends when his driving resulted in an accident that cut the vehicle he was driving, in half.
He was a driver who had qualified for his restricted licence 2 days earlier. With a "Restricted Licence" and therefore had a Zero Alcohol Limit, he had a BAC (Blood Alcohol Reading) of 50 (the criminal conviction limit for an adult BAC is 80). He was on a zero passenger Licence and had five passengers, with one passenger in the boot of the vehicle. He was speeding travelling at 115km/h in a 50 km/h zone.
Yesterday the Timaru District Court Judge sentenced him to 2 1/2 years prison.
We had nothing to do with this driver and his actions however we understand the enormous ethical weight we hold in providing a pathway for drivers to obtain a Limited Licence in court. We do not think Restricted Drivers with alcohol convictions so early in their driving careers should be eligible at all for a Limited Licence, when they clearly have quite soft restrictions on their driving licences anyway, and yet they still can't seem to handle even those.
Our Policy is now – that we will not support drivers aged under 20 or on restricted Licences with any form of EBA (Excess Breath Alcohol reading) looking to obtain a Limited Licence in any District Court in NZ.
We know that in order to solve a problem you first must identify the issue and then make your mind up to be determined to solve the problem or issue for the benefit of yourself, your children, your partner, your job, your business and everyone you come into contact with.
Here is a list of ways in which you can get help throughout New Zealand.
We are happy to talk to you if you want to help a loved one or if you feel that you need help. Also if you have been helped by an organisation in New Zealand and you want them to help more people - let us know who they are and we will contact them and put them on this list.
