Speeding plumbing company boss who refused to take drug test gets hit with big licence ban
A blatant refusal to take a drug test has cost a company boss a ban four times longer than it should have. He’s been told he should get an apprentice to drive him around from now on.
Inner South
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A defiant decision to refuse to take an evidentiary drug test has seen a plumbing business owner banned from driving for four years.
Paul Cavallo received the penalty after he repeatedly refused to provide police with an evidentiary sample of his saliva.
The Rowville plumbing boss had tested positive in a preliminary roadside test after being pulled over for speeding, but didn’t want to accompany officers to complete the process.
Ironically, if he had tested positive a second time the maximum ban he could have got was 12 months off the road.
He pleaded guilty to speeding and refusing a drug test charges at Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, April 29.
The court heard he was clocked by police doing 106km/h on an 80km/h stretch of the Monash Freeway in Glen Iris at 11.45pm on October 19 last year and pulled over.
A preliminary oral fluid test indicted a positive result, and Cavallo was asked multiple times to accompany officers for a full sample, but he continually said no.
He told them he didn’t want to take the test because it was “not accurate” and he was speeding because he was late getting to a mate’s birthday.
Cavallo’s defence lawyer said he was haunted by his strange decision to not take the test, as he now knew it would mean he would be off the road for four times longer.
He said his client had refused “out of fear” he would prove positive. He said he didn’t have a substance abuse issue, only “dabbling” in drugs now and again, and this penalty would be “crushing”.
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Magistrate Dr Michael King said it was a ridiculous choice to not take the test, and now Cavallo was dealing with the consequences.
“Why would he risk four years when he would have got 12 months (ban) if drugs were found in his system?” Dr King said.
“It is a deterrent for people to refuse and serves as a means for people to comply with the law.
“It is a potentially lethal combination, dabbling in drugs and then driving, it is very risky for the public.”
He said perhaps the best way for Cavallo to deal with his ban was to employ an apprentice to drive him around as that would also train a young person to do a trade at the same time.
As he had a drug or drink-driving prior within the last 10 years, his mandatory ban of two years was automatically doubled.
Cavallo was fined $1000 and disqualified for four years, with no conviction recorded.