‘You’ve lost two licences, and you’re only a learner’

A learner driver copped an earful from an Ipswich magistrate over his astonishing accumulation of demerit points.

Montag Sauni leaves court after being banned from driving six months due to the accumulation of 26 demerit points while on a learner's permit.

A LEARNER driver copped an earful from an Ipswich magistrate over his massive pile of demerit points.

After he was caught driving unlicensed on Boxing Day, Ipswich Magistrates Court heard Montaeg Sauni had accumulated 26 demerit points.

As a result, Magistrate Brian Kucks banned Sauni (pictured above) from holding a licence for six months.

Sauni, 21, from Goodna, pleaded guilty to driving without a licence while suspended because of demerit points at Goodna on December 26, 2019.

Prosecutor Sergeant Paul Caldwell said police intercepted Sauni at 10.55am at Redbank Plains Rd.

The court heard he only held a learner licence and was not accompanied by a fully licensed driver.

A check revealed his licence had been suspended for three months from October 29.

Mr Kucks looked at Sauni’s traffic record and began counting his demerit points.

“You’ve accumulated 16, 19, 22, Oh Wow 26 points,” Mr Kucks said.

“A driver gets 12 points. You’ve managed to blow more than two licences and you only had a learner permit.

“You are extremely fortunate my hands are tied and I can only impose a six-month disqualification. I would suggest it should be a lot longer before you are anywhere near the roads.”

Sauni was also fined $450.

Mr Kucks gave him a strong warning that if police did caught him behind the wheel while disqualified by court order he risked being fined up to $8500, going to jail, and would be disqualified for another two years.

Originally published as ‘You’ve lost two licences, and you’re only a learner’