Will I Lose My Licence for Drink Driving in Queensland?
Drink Driving — 2026-04-03 — by Sacha Sarah Smith, Civic Law
Will you lose your licence for drink driving in Queensland? Disqualification periods, work licences, and hardship orders.
Most people charged with drink driving in Queensland assume the outcome is straightforward: you get charged, you go to court, you lose your licence. In many cases that is exactly what happens. But what you do between now and your court date can make a significant difference to how long that disqualification runs — and whether you can still drive for work.
How Queensland Categorises Drink Driving Offences
Under section 79 of the Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995 (Qld) (the TORUM Act), the offence you face depends on your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and, in some cases, the type of licence you hold.
If you are under 25 and do not hold an open licence, or if you drive a truck, bus, taxi, or tow truck, a no-alcohol limit applies. Any detectable reading is the offence.
For everyone else, where your reading sits determines everything that follows. A BAC of 0.05 to under 0.10 is the general alcohol limit — section 79(2). From 0.10 to under 0.15 is the middle alcohol limit — section 79(1F). A BAC of 0.150 or above triggers the conclusive presumption under section 79(3) — the person is deemed to have been driving under the influence and is charged under section 79(1), the DUI provision. This is the most serious drink driving charge, carrying higher penalties (28 penalty units and up to 9 months' imprisonment for a first offence) and removing work licence eligibility. The separate offence of driving under the influence (DUI) under section 79(1) can also be charged independently where there is evidence of impairment, regardless of BAC reading.
The category you fall into is not an administrative detail. It sets the minimum disqualification you face, the maximum the court can impose, and whether a restricted licence is available to you at all.
Disqualification Is Mandatory — the Court Only Sets the Length
This is where many people have the wrong expectation. Under section 86 of the TORUM Act, disqualification on conviction is not discretionary. If you are convicted, you will be disqualified. The court has no power to avoid that — only to set the period within the statutory range.
For a first offence at the general or middle alcohol limit, the minimum disqualification is one month. That increases significantly if you have relevant prior convictions within the previous five years. A first DUI offence carries a minimum six-month disqualification. Prior drink driving convictions within five years trigger mandatory minimum increases the court cannot go below, regardless of your circumstances.
Where you have more than one offence committed at different times, disqualifications run consecutively under section 90B of the TORUM Act. They do not merge.
If you were charged with DUI under section 79(1), or with a middle alcohol limit offence under section 79(1F), or with failing to provide a specimen, your licence may have been suspended immediately on the day of charge under section 79B of the TORUM Act. That suspension runs from the charge date until the matter is finalised in court. It is a separate legal event from the post-conviction disqualification, but the court can take that period into account when setting the disqualification length. If you have been off the road since the charge date, raise that with a solicitor before your matter is heard.
The Work Licence — What It Is and Who Qualifies
A restricted licence under section 87 of the TORUM Act allows a person who would otherwise be disqualified to drive for the purpose of earning a living. Most people know it as a work licence. Most people also misunderstand exactly who qualifies. You can check your eligibility here .
Eligibility depends on the charge provision. If you are charged under section 79(2) (general alcohol limit — BAC 0.050 to 0.099) or section 79(1F) (middle alcohol limit — BAC 0.100 to 0.149), you can apply. If your BAC was 0.150 or above, the conclusive presumption under section 79(3) means you are charged under section 79(1) — the DUI provision — and a work licence is not available (barred by s 87(5)(da)). If you are charged with DUI under section 79(1) on any other basis, a work licence is also not available. You must hold a Queensland open licence (provisional licence holders are not eligible under s 87(5)(e) and (f)). The offence must not have occurred while you were engaged in a work-related activity. You must not have a prior drink driving or dangerous operation conviction within the previous five years. You must not be subject to a no-alcohol condition for any reason.
And you must satisfy the court that you are a fit and proper person, and that losing your licence would cause extreme hardship — meaning, in practical terms, that you would lose your means of earning a living.
Police may also oppose the application. If they do, the people who have sworn supporting affidavits can be cross-examined. This is not a simple administrative process.
The Application Must Be Made at the Sentencing Hearing — Not After
This is the most important practical point in this article, and the one most commonly misunderstood. A restricted licence application is made at the hearing of the drink driving charge — after culpability is accepted, but before the court imposes a disqualification period. It cannot be made after disqualification has been imposed.
When a matter first comes before the court on a mention, it is often adjourned for approximately six weeks to allow the application material to be prepared. But that material must be properly drawn. Supporting affidavits from you and your employer must be filed and served on police at least 14 days before the hearing. The application must be in proper form.
Once disqualification is imposed without a restricted licence application having been heard, that opportunity is gone. There is no avenue to return to court later because the material was not ready in time, or because you did not realise the application was available.
If you are in any doubt about eligibility, or whether the material can be prepared in time, give us a call before your first mention date.
Preparing Your Plea
Disqualification length and work licence eligibility are not the only things at stake. The court also weighs your traffic history, the circumstances of the offence, and your personal situation — employment, family responsibilities, steps taken since the charge. A properly prepared plea in mitigation can make a meaningful difference to the period imposed. Arriving in court with nothing prepared is not a neutral choice.
Drink Driving — Guilty Plea
Work Licence Application
Special Hardship Order