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Extreme Hardship: In short “Extreme Hardship” applies to the applicant. Extreme Hardship would be the outcome of not having a licence resulting ultimately in some personal hardship such as the inability to pay your mortgage or rent or loss of your job.
Extreme Hardship could apply to self employed persons who require the use of a motor vehicle to run their business e.g. builder, plumber, electrician. Without the ability to drive for work purposes they may very well lose their livelihood.
It would also apply to those employed in a profession that requires them to drive as part of their employment terms e.g. sales representative or delivery person and the inability to drive would result in loss of employment.
It may also apply in other situations. Take for example a person who needs to get to work and no public transport runs from a reasonable proximity of their home to within a reasonable proximity of their place of employment. The result of this would be loss of job which would have further repercussions such as an inability to meet financial obligations.
Undue Hardship: Undue Hardship is usually where a third party is affected by the applicant’s loss of licence. The most common situation seen here would be that of an employer whose business would be affected by the applicant’s inability to drive as part of their normal terms of employment.
Undue hardship may be applied in the situation of young children who rely on the applicant to get them to and from school and to extra curricula activities however this is not likely to extend into weekend sports or events.
It may also be applied where the applicant needs to support a sick relative who may need daily home based care or to attend regular clinical or hospital appointments and where it can be shown that there is no one else able to assist.
If either of these is applicable to you then the criteria of Hardship is met. If you are unsure of your eligibility please don't hesitate to contact us.
Be aware that you should not apply for a limited licence if you believe that you are not eligible to as this is regarded as a serious offence.