NSW - RTA licence cancellation notification

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Daily Telegraph has finally caught up with this:-
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...rom=public_rss

NRMA head Evans suggests an overhaul of RTA is required, and even suggested breaking-up the organisation completely. He might be aware that this is a 'quite possible' outcome IF the NSW Libs gain power, and I'd have to agree to be honest.

TENS of thousands of drivers have had their licence illegally suspended by the State Government following a landmark court decision that could cost the RTA millions.

A simple error on infringement notices has rendered licence suspensions void and left countless drivers - including possibly Education Minister John Della Bosca - having had their licence illegally revoked.

The latest Government debacle was revealed after father of two Mark Salama took on the RTA in court when he did not receive a notice informing him he had lost his licence.

"I didn't know it had been cancelled, if I knew it had been suspended I wouldn't have been driving.

"I tried to plead with the officer but he didn't believe me and gave me a court order right then and there."

But his criminal defence lawyer Dennis Miralis flushed out a flaw in the standard licence suspension notice, noting that it fails to mention whether the licence holder can actualy retain possession of their licence or not.

"If there is no statement advising the motorists one way or another what they can do with their licence then the notice hasn't complied with the regulation and the RTA has failed to comply with the law," Mr Miralis told The Daily Telegraph.

Mr Salama said his hefty court bill has been worth it to expose the RTA bungle.

"The RTA don't comply with the law but they expect everybody else to."

The bungle by the roads authority has disgusted road safety bodies who are now calling for the RTA to be disbanded.

"It's too big a bureau and it needs a thorough reform and probably needs to be broken up," NRMA's President Alan Evans said yesterday.

Mr Evans said the blunder is the latest stuff up by the RTA that exposes an agency not coping and overwhelmed.

"We've seen it from roads to tunnels to tollways, they build the roads, regulates the roads, regulates the licences and clearly it is not doing these things well," he said.

"This could be a very costly exercise for them."

But the RTA do not accept the decision has set a legal precedent and said if Mr Salama does not pay his fines he will not be able to legally drive.

"The RTA is seeking details of the decision in order to consider its position, " a spokesman said.