Melissa Wilson lands in Tweed court after police found her riding e-scooter on suspended licence
A Tweed woman with a suspended driver’s licence believed all was plain sailing when she bought an electric scooter from over the border. See how it all turned south.
Police & Courts
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A Tweed Heads woman with a suspended driver’s licence believed all was plain sailing when she bought an electric scooter from over the border.
But it ended badly when police spotted her whizzing along to Tweed Mall shopping centre in Tweed Heads – a stone’s throw from Queensland.
E-scooters are legal to use in Queensland, but not in NSW.
Worse was to come for 50-year-old Melissa Wilson, who faced Tweed Heads Local Court.
By riding the vehicle on a suspended licence, a community corrections order was triggered for driving with an illicit drug in her system.
Court documents state police were alerted to Wilson riding an e-scooter without a helmet, travelling towards Wharf St, on December 4, 2022.
Officers caught up with her in the mall and asked why she wasn’t wearing a helmet.
“It got stolen”, she told police.
Asked to produce her driver’s licence, Wilson said it was suspended.
She said she bought the scooter on Facebook Marketplace from a seller at Pacific Pines on the Gold Coast for $1800.
Wilson’s lawyer Phillip Mulherin said: “This is a lady that requires support.”
“I’m asking for a minimum disqualification on the road and for Ms Wilson to attend drug and alcohol counselling,” he said.
Magistrate Geoff Dunlevy said he could show leniency on the driving while suspended charge.
“The vehicle you were driving, it’s a very minor example of this offence. I’m going to dismiss this charge,” Mr Dunlevy said.
But he expressed concern about Wilson’s previous charge of driving with a drug in her system.
“When people use illicit drugs, they can’t tell they’re under the influence and how long the drug remains in your system,” Mr Dunlevy said.
Wilson pleaded guilty on March 20 and was convicted of driving with an illicit drug in her system.
She was fined $450 and received a three-month licence disqualification.
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