Vlado Blazevski sentenced for driving while disqualified in Mortdale

A man who runs a cleaning business has been jailed for at least six months after he drove despite being disqualified for the ninth time.

Vlado Blazevski, 42, pleaded guilty to driving with an illicit drug present in his system, speeding more than 10km/h and driving while disqualified. Picture: Facebook

A father has been jailed for at least six months after he drove despite being disqualified for the ninth time.

Vlado Blazevski, 42, was sentenced in Sutherland Local Court on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to driving with an illicit drug present in his system, speeding more than 10km/h and driving while disqualified.

Agreed facts tendered to court said police stopped Blazevski for a random breath test while he was driving a white Toyota Hiace at Railway Parade and Garfield St in Carlton on June 21, 2023.

He returned a negative result but tested positive to methylamphetamine.

Blazevski was arrested before returning a second positive test, stating he had only smoked cannabis 30 hours beforehand.

Blazevski was sentenced in Sutherland Local Court.

On November 29 last year, police detected Blazevski travelling 71km/h in a 50km/h zone on Morts Rd, Mortdale.

He gave police a Queensland drivers licence before checks revealed he had been disqualified from driving for six months from August 29 last year.

Blazevski didn’t understand that he was disqualified saying, “I got a Queensland licence.”

The court heard Blazevski had a terrible traffic and extensive criminal record including previous periods of imprisonment for driving while disqualified.

He was previously imprisoned for taking and detaining a person and had been convicted for drug-related crimes and domestic violence offences.

Magistrate Philip Stewart said Blazevski’s traffic history dated back to 2013 when he was first convicted of driving while suspended and had multiple convictions for driving with illicit drugs.

Blazevski had been sentenced for nine driving while disqualified offences where he had previously been imprisoned and had community-based orders.

Mr Stewart acknowledged Blazevski was “dedicated to his four children” because he travelled between Queensland and NSW to see them regularly.

The court heard Blazevski also assisted his parents and he operated a cleaning business.

Mr Blazevski told the court he “apologised,” was no longer travelling interstate and had worked out family issues that were going on at the time of the offences.

He also told the court he had been clean from drugs for three and a half months, was in contact with a drug rehabilitation organisation and “didn’t want to go backwards”, adding he needed his licence to work.

Mr Stewart said Blazevski had “not learnt” from his previous periods of imprisonment and the community would not be protected because of the “frequency in which he breached road rules”.

Blazevski was sentenced to nine-month term of full-time imprisonment, with a non parole period of six months, fined $4000 and disqualified from driving for 12 months.