SINGAPORE – Individuals who have completely lost their driving licences but still get behind the wheel will face, as a starting point, three weeks’ jail and a two-year driving ban for driving without a valid licence.
The sentencing benchmark for this category of offenders was laid down recently by the High Court in a case involving a man who was caught driving in 2024, even though his licence had been revoked.
Garrick Eng Kwan Meng, 46, was originally handed a $5,000 fine and a two-year driving ban by a district court in August 2025 for a charge of driving without a valid licence.
On April 22, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon allowed an appeal by the prosecution and sentenced Eng to four weeks’ jail instead. The duration of the driving ban was unchanged.
Menon issued written grounds on May 26 to differentiate the types of unlicensed drivers.
He made it clear that a driver who once had a licence but lost it completely is more culpable than a driver who had never held a licence: “His disability to drive was the product of prior conduct serious enough to warrant the complete removal of his licence, and his decision to drive regardless reflects a persistent disregard for the safety of other road users.”
Eng’s driving licence was revoked in June 2018 after he was fined and disqualified from driving for five years over a fatal accident.
In that incident, his first wife and three children were passengers in the car when he lost control of the vehicle and crashed it.
The impact caused his wife and one of his children, who were in the back seat, to be thrown out of the car. His wife died while the child was injured.
After the disqualification period ended, Eng tried to obtain a licence again but did not pass the basic theory test.
On the afternoon of Oct 24, 2024, he was stopped by a police officer along Braddell Road for using his mobile phone while driving a van rented by Eng’s company.
When the officer asked for his driving licence, Eng admitted that he did not have one.
He claimed that he had intended to drive from his home in Woodlands to various work sites in Ubi and Thomson.
On Aug 14, 2025, Eng pleaded guilty to a charge of driving without a licence and another charge of driving without insurance coverage.
A third charge for driving while using a mobile phone was considered during sentencing.
He was handed a $5,000 fine and a two-year driving ban for driving without a licence, and a $1,000 fine and one-year driving ban for driving without insurance coverage.
The prosecution appealed against the $5,000 fine, pressing for a jail sentence.
In his written grounds, Menon noted that in a 2024 case, a starting benchmark sentence of two weeks’ jail and a two-year driving ban was set for the archetypal “unqualified driver”.
An unqualified driver refers to a person who has never held a driving licence, as opposed to a qualified driver who once held a licence.
Eng fell into the category of a qualified driver who lost his licence and has to pass a test before he is qualified to drive again.
Menon arrived at a starting sentence of three weeks’ jail for drivers like Eng who lose their licences completely due to a disqualification order by the court or revocation by the police.
These benchmarks apply to a first-time offender who pleads guilty and who did not cause an accident.
The Chief Justice said the suggestion is sometimes put forth that unqualified drivers should get a more severe sentence than qualified drivers.
“This, in my view, is incorrect, at least in so far as a qualified driver who has lost his licence completely is concerned,” he said.
He said the focus should not be on the offender’s driving competence.
“Instead, the linchpin of the offence lies in the degree to which the offender’s conduct discloses a disregard for the safety of others,” he said.
Turning to the current case, the Chief Justice said it was appropriate to increase Eng’s sentence to four weeks because there were two factors that aggravated his offence.
He considered that Eng drove a significant distance before he was stopped and had intended to go to multiple locations, and that Eng was using a mobile phone while driving.
Menon also observed that the courts may have to re-assess the sentencing ranges for the offence of driving under disqualification in the light of the two benchmark sentences that have been laid down.