What is a Work Licence?

A Work Licence (or ‘Limited licence’ which is the legal term used for it) is a specific type of driver’s licence issued by the New Zealand Transport Agency.

A Work Licence permits driving on certain restrictive conditions that have been specified in an order of the District Court.

In order to obtain a Work licence therefor it is first necessary to apply to the District Court for an order authorising NZTA to issue you with the Work Licence.

The District Court will consider your application following input from the Police and determine firstly whether or not you meet the legislative test for being granted a Work Licence (see more in chapter 4 below) and if so, what restrictions should be placed on your driving (see more in chapter 5 below).

The licence itself is similar in appearance to the standard driver’s licence but is coloured pink instead of a standard green.

Work Licences exist to alleviate defined degrees of hardship caused by loss of licence.

They also have the effect of introducing an element of fairness to the legal process which removes the privilege of driving for a set period without taking into account the disparity of impact that penalty might have in different cases.

For example, a mandatory 6 month disqualification for a truck driver will be a much greater penalty than the same disqualification on a business person who lives a short bus-ride from her workplace, and a Work Licence has the effect of levelling out that disparity (albeit at a likely additional cost of $1-2000 for the Truckie with a family to support).