Drink Driving & PCA Charges in NSW

What "PCA" means — and the ranges that decide everything

Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW), s 110: it is an offence to drive (or attempt to drive, or supervise a learner) with a prescribed concentration of alcohol in your breath or blood.

PCA stands for "prescribed concentration of alcohol." It is the formal name of the offence most people call drink driving: driving with a blood or breath alcohol concentration at or above the limit prescribed for your licence. Unlike DUI (dealt with below), a PCA charge is built on a number — the reading from the breath analysis — and that number determines which band you are in, and with it the penalties, the disqualification and the interlock consequences.

• Novice range — any alcohol at all (over zero), for learner and provisional drivers;
• Special range — 0.02 to under 0.05, for special-category drivers (including taxi, bus and heavy-vehicle drivers);
• Low range — 0.05 to under 0.08;
• Mid range — 0.08 to under 0.15; and
• High range — 0.15 and above.

Everything on this page keys off those bands. A reading of 0.079 and a reading of 0.081 are two milligrams apart and a world apart in consequence — which is also why the accuracy of the reading, the timing of the analysis and the "home safely" rule (police cannot require a breath test at your home) are all worth examining before any plea.

Yes — drink driving is a criminal offence

This is the misconception that catches more people than any other in traffic law. Because drink driving is policed at the roadside and starts with something that looks like a ticket, people assume it sits in the same family as a speeding fine. It does not. Drink driving in NSW is a criminal offence. You are charged, you go to court, and a conviction creates a criminal record — with everything that can mean for employment, professional registration, insurance and travel.

The corollary matters just as much: because it is a criminal charge, the criminal courts' full sentencing toolkit applies — including, on a first offence in appropriate cases, a non-conviction order under section 10 that avoids the record, the disqualification and the interlock order altogether. That outcome is never automatic. It is built, through preparation. Treating the charge like a ticket is the surest way not to get it.

Immediate licence suspension — before you ever see a court

For mid-range and high-range charges, and for refusal offences, police will ordinarily issue an immediate licence suspension notice on the spot. Your licence stops that day — not at sentence. Low-range, novice and special-range first offences are commonly dealt with by penalty notice and a suspension from Transport for NSW instead.

An immediate suspension can be appealed to the Local Court within 28 days, though the court will generally only lift one in exceptional circumstances. The mechanics — and what can realistically be done about driving in the meantime — are covered on our licence appeals page.

Penalties by range — fines, disqualification, and where jail enters

Court maximums rise with the range. As a guide for first offences: low-range, novice and special-range PCA carry a maximum fine of $2,200 (20 penalty units) with no imprisonment; mid-range carries up to $2,200 (20 penalty units) and 9 months' imprisonment; high-range carries up to $3,300 (30 penalty units) and 18 months' imprisonment. Second or subsequent offences within five years carry substantially higher maximums — up to $5,500 (50 penalty units) and 2 years for high range.

Disqualification periods are set by band, with automatic and minimum periods — and, for most mid- and high-range and repeat matters, an interlock pathway that shortens the disqualification in exchange for an interlock period (next section). Low-range first offences dealt with by penalty notice attract a fixed fine and a three-month suspension without a court appearance — but a penalty notice can be court-elected, and sometimes should be, because only a court can deal with the matter without conviction.

For high-range matters there is a guideline judgment: courts start from the position that high-range drink driving is serious even for first offenders, and full-time custody is a realistic outcome at the top of the range. That is the band where senior preparation matters most.

The interlock program — mandatory orders, exemptions, and getting off early

Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW), Pt 7.4 Div 2 (ss 208–215): mandatory alcohol interlock orders, interlock periods and exemption orders.

The alcohol interlock is the part of a drink driving sentence almost no one sees coming, and almost no one explains well. An interlock is a breath-testing device wired to your car's ignition: the car will not start unless you pass, and the device photographs, logs and reports every test.

When an interlock order is mandatory

Courts must make a mandatory interlock order for the more serious drink driving convictions — including high-range offences, refusal offences, and second-or-subsequent drink driving offences within five years, with mid-range offences also captured under the current scheme. The order works as a trade: a shorter disqualification, followed by a minimum interlock period (commonly 12 months, 24 months for high range, longer for repeat offences) during which you may only drive an interlock-fitted vehicle on an interlock licence.

The trap inside the scheme

The interlock period only runs while you hold the interlock licence. Sitting it out does not work: if you simply do not get the interlock licence, you remain unable to drive lawfully — and the default position for non-participation is a five-year disqualification. The cheapest way through the scheme is almost always through it, not around it.

Exemptions

The court can make an interlock exemption order, but the grounds are narrow: in substance, that you have no access to a vehicle in which an interlock could be installed, or that a medical condition prevents you providing a breath sample — and an exemption usually means serving the much longer ordinary disqualification instead. Cost and inconvenience are not grounds. If an exemption is to be sought, it must be raised at sentence, with evidence.

Early removal

The minimum interlock period is fixed — there is no general "early removal" application once the order is made. The device itself may also stay on longer than the minimum if the program's performance criteria (a period of compliant, alcohol-free tests) are not met. The honest answer to "can I get off it early" is: the time to shorten the interlock period is before sentence, by where the matter lands — range, plea, section 10 — not after.

DUI — the different charge that needs no reading at all

Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW), s 112: it is an offence to drive while under the influence of alcohol or any other drug.

DUI — driving under the influence — is a separate and older charge, and it requires no breath or blood reading. Police rely instead on observation: the manner of driving, the smell of alcohol, slurred speech, unsteadiness, admissions. DUI is typically charged where a reading was never lawfully obtained — drug-affected driving outside the drug-testing regime, hospital cases, or where too much time has passed for a valid analysis.

Because the charge rests on impressions rather than a number, the evidence is more contestable than in a PCA case — what police observed, what else explains it, and whether "under the influence" is actually proved. Penalties sit broadly at the level of the serious PCA bands, with disqualification and interlock consequences to match. If you have been charged with DUI rather than PCA, the distinction matters and shapes the defence — it is worth understanding which document you are actually holding.

First offence — what realistically happens

For a first offence, the realistic range of outcomes runs from a section 10 non-conviction order (no record, no disqualification, no interlock) through a conviction with fine and the automatic disqualification or interlock pathway, up to — for high-range and aggravated facts — community-based orders and, rarely but genuinely, custody.

What moves a first offence toward the better end: the range, the reading within it, the circumstances (distance driven, reason, time of day), a completed traffic offender intervention program, character references that say something real, and a record — driving and otherwise — presented honestly. Courts see these matters every sitting day; what distinguishes outcomes is the quality of what is put before them. Every matter turns on its own facts.

How Lenz Legal approaches drink driving charges

The work starts with the evidence: was the stop lawful, was the analysis done in time and at a permitted place, does the certificate say what the prosecution needs it to say. Most PCA matters resolve as pleas — and there the work is the sentencing case: the program, the references, the interlock strategy decided before the sentencing date rather than discovered at it, and a realistic, properly argued application under section 10 where the facts support one.

If you have been charged — or you are holding an immediate suspension notice — get advice before your first court date. The matters that go wrong are usually the ones treated as paperwork until the week before court.

Drink driving — your questions answered