I recently spoke with a self-employed construction supervisor who is suffering through four (4) habitual traffic offender revocations and multiple suspensions for both operating after suspension and driving on a revoked license. He contacted my office in search of a hardship license. Unfortunately, he contacted us too late. This case illustrates the importance of retaining a lawyer to appeal your hardship license suspension before it is too late.
Unfortunately, because of his record which shows more than a half dozen convictions for operating after suspension or revocation, I will not be able to get him a work or hardship license. This is because operating after revocation or suspension is an automatic disqualifer at the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles in HTO hardship license cases. While recent operating after suspension or revocation is not an automatic disqualifer at the RMV Appeals Board, the Board members take a very dim view of these charges, believing that they are evidence of a conscious disregard for the law.
This man repeatedly made the bad decision to drive while he had a revoked license. Given the nature of his work and his job requirements, this is understandable. However, prior to accumulating the operating after revocation convictions, he could have used these job requirements to seek hardship relief from the RMV or Board of Appeal. Now that he has amassed a long driving record, getting a hardship license is highly unlikely.
This otherwise law-abiding individual dug a hole for himself because each time he got convicted of operating after suspension, a new 4 year habitual traffic offender revocation was generated. As it currently stands, he will not be able to get his license reinstated until 2016. Also, he faces jail time for his most recent operating after revocation case, which is still pending in Framingham District Court.
The moral of this story is to contact a lawyer and try to get a hardship license as soon as possible. After you have accumulated a large number of operating after revocation or driving while suspended convictions, getting a 12 hour hardship license may be extremely difficult, if not impossible.