Losing your licence

About licence suspensions

You may be suspended from driving if you:

• commit a serious offence including high level speeding offences
• speed on your learners or P1 licence
• if you get too many demerit points, or
• if you don't pay your fines.

You may lose your licence on the spot after you are stopped by police or you may get a Notice of Suspension from Transport for NSW (TfNSW) that states the date on which you will lose your licence.

A susp​ension is different to a disqualification. A suspension can be imposed by the Police or TfNSW, but a disqualification is only i​​mposed by the court. You may be disqualified if you are convicted by a court of a serious driving offence. If you have been disqualified from driving, this section does not apply to you.

For more information about your options after your licence has been disqualified by the court, see After court.

On the spot suspensions

If you commit a serious driving offence, the police can charge you, give you a Court Attendance Notice (CAN) and suspend your licence on the spot.  Some examples of serious driving offences include:

• negligent driving, where someone is seriously injured or dies
• serious speeding offences
• some offences involving driving and drugs or alcohol
• street racing and burnout offences
• if you breach your licence conditions, for example if you are a learner driver and you drive without a supervising driver.

The police can also give you an immediate licence suspension notice at any time within 48 hours after you are charged or given a fine. Your licence will be suspended immediately when you receive the notice.

The police can suspend any type of licence on-the-spot, including interstate licences.

The police may also impound your vehicle or confiscate your number plates. If the police don’t impound your vehicle, you will have to arrange for someone to collect it.

Some major traffic offences carry a fine and demerit points that will be added to your driving record. These demerit points don’t count towards your on-the-spot suspension.

If you get too many demerit points on your driving record, you will be given an additional demerit point suspension.

If the police don’t suspend you on the spot, TfNSW can suspend you. They will send you a notice of suspension.

For more information, see On-the-spot suspension.

Transport for NSW suspensions for speeding

TfNSW can suspend your licence if you are photographed driving more than 30 km/hr over the speed limit by a speed camera. The amount of time your licence is suspended will depend on how fast you were going. For example:

• over 30 km/hr and up to 45 km/hr over the speed limit, your licence will be suspended for 3 months
• over 45 km/hr over the speed limit, your licence will be suspended for 6 months.

TfNSW will send you a letter suspending you from driving. The letter will tell you when the suspension will start and how long it will last. TfNSW may send you a letter suspending you from driving:

• after you pay a speeding fine, or
• when the deadline for applying to go to court has passed, if you did not pay the speeding fine or choose to go to court.

Your licence can also be suspended because of demerit points or unpaid fines.

For more information, see Speeding.

Demerit point suspensions

Demerit points are a penalty that you receive for certain offences.

When you get a driver licence, your demerit point balance is zero. If you commit a traffic offence with a demerit point penalty, the points will be added to your driving record. Offences with a demerit point penalty also come with a fine.

If you get too many demerit points on your driving record, your licence will be suspended, or Transport for NSW (TfNSW) may refuse to renew your licence.

You can receive demerit points for an offence anywhere in Australia. If you commit an offence outside of NSW, the demerit points for that offence in NSW will be added to your driving record.

For more information, see Demerit point suspension.

Unpaid fines

If you have unpaid fines in NSW, Transport for NSW (TfNSW) can suspend your driver licence, marine safety licence, or visiting driver privileges, and/or cancel your vehicle or vessel registration.

For more information, see Unpaid fines.

Medical illness or injury

If you have a medical condition or recent surgery that affects your ability to drive, you must notify Transport for NSW (TfNSW) as soon as possible. Not just when you renew your licence.

TfNSW may ask you to pass a medical assessment, driving test or driver knowledge test to ensure that you are medically fit and competent to drive.

Before you can take a driving test, your doctor must declare you medically fit to drive. If your doctor tells you not to drive or gives you recommendations to follow, you must comply. If you don’t, you may be charged with an offence and lose your insurance.

For some medical conditions, TfNSW may add conditions to your licence, or cancel, your licence.

If you refuse to undergo any required medical examinations or driver tests, or do not submit your medical examinations on time, TfNSW may cancel or suspend your licence.

For more information, see Medical illness or injury.

Not responsible

If your licence has been suspended because of an offence committed by someone else who was driving your vehicle, you can nominate the driver.

You may need to do this if you:

• are the registered owner but more than one person drives the vehicle
• loaned your vehicle to a friend or relative when the offence occurred
• sold the vehicle before the offence.

You must name the driver for an offence that carries demerit points. The fine and demerit points will be transferred to the driver.

You don’t need to name the driver if they have already nominated themselves.

You can’t name another person if:

• you were given the fine in person, or
• the offence was not detected by a camera.

If you name the driver, don’t pay the fine.

For more information, see Name the driver.

Appeal your licence suspension

If your licence has been suspended, in some cases it is possible to appeal to the local court against the suspension.

​The court will not look at your guilt or innocence for the offence at that stage.

You must file your appeal within 28 days of receiving the TfNSW Notice of Suspension or within 28 days from when you received the 'on the spot' suspension. If you file your appeal late, even if the court accepts your application, the magistrate will not be able to hear your case. If you received the TfNSW Notice of Suspension by post, the law assumes that you received the notice four working days after it is posted. 

If your licence was suspended by Transport for NSW (TfNSW), your suspension will be stayed (paused) until the Court hears your appeal. You can continue driving until your appeal is heard. You should check with TfNSW whether your suspension has been stayed before you start driving again.

If you were suspended on-the-spot by the police, your licence will remain suspended until your appeal is heard.

After the Court hears your appeal, it’s decision will be final. You can’t appeal the Court’s decision. However, if you missed your court date, you may be able to file an annulment application.

For more information, see Appealing the suspension.

Before appealing the suspension, you should get legal advice.

When can you drive again?

If your licence is suspended, you will not be able to drive until:

• the end of the suspension period for the offence,
• you have appealed the suspension to the local court and had your suspension lifted,
• you go to court and defend the offence and are found not guilty
• you go to court and are found guilty but the court records no conviction, or
• you pay the fine that led to your suspension, or TfNSW remove your suspension when you go on a payment plan.

There are serious penalties for driving while you are suspended, including licence disqualification, large fines and imprisonment. If your licence has been suspended and you are caught driving, you should get legal advice.

You do not need to re-apply for your licence at the end of the suspension period. You can start driving again straight away, as long as you still have your licence and it hasn’t expired. 

If the police took your licence, you must contact TfNSW to replace your licence before you start driving again. 

If your licence expired while you were suspended, you must renew it before you start driving again.