Disqualified driver Robin George Valle ordered off roads for two years

A 31-year-old appeared in court offering an excuse as to why he got behind the wheel of a car despite being disqualified. Here’s what he had to say.

He said he drove the 1km or so because his feet were too sore to walk.

A QUINALOW man who took the chance and drove while disqualified because his feet were too sore to walk has had his driver’s licence taken from him for two years.

Robin George Valle asked the court for leniency as he’d been without his driver’s licence for some months and relied on his partner to drive him.

However, Acting Magistrate Roger Stark explained to him that driving while disqualified by court order brought a mandatory minimum disqualification period of two years and he did not have a discretion to make it any less.

Police prosecutor Leea Trewin told the court a police patrol spotted Valle driving his partner’s car on Progress St, Quinalow about 9am, August 18, and pulled alongside him as he drove into the Quinalow Garage.

Initially denying that he had been driving, Valle told police he had just sat in the driver’s seat.

However, after police told him they had seen him driving he came clean, Senior Constable Trewin said.

The 31-year-old had been disqualified from driving for six months by the same court on March 24 and was due to be eligible to get his licence back on September 23, she said.

Asked how he pleaded to the charge, the self-represented Valle told the court he had no option but to plead guilty to driving while disqualified by court order.

Valle told the court he was unemployed at the moment due to having “broken feet” and that he had driven the 1 km or so that day because he couldn’t have walked that far.

Told there was nothing the court could do about the mandatory two year disqualification period that had to be imposed, an obviously agitated Valle said “thanks for nothing” and stormed out of the courtroom.

Mr Stark fined Valle $750 and disqualified him from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for two years.