The letter says “proposal”. That word is the whole argument.
NZTA has written to say it intends to decline or revoke your P endorsement, passenger service licence or goods service licence. That letter is not the decision. It is the step before it, and it exists because you are allowed to reply. There is a deadline on it. Ring before it passes.
✔ Anywhere in NZ, by Zoom
✔ 30+ years experience
✔ No Law Society complaints
We write the reply for you. Every ticket gets explained.
Nobody arrives here with a clean record. If you had one, the letter would not have come. So the work is not hiding the record — it is explaining it, entry by entry, sometimes across twenty years.
That explaining is our job. You tell us what was going on at the time and you gather the documents that show what has changed since. Melanie and the ex-LTSA consultant write the submissions and file them before the deadline on your letter. You will not be passed to a junior.
An unanswered letter leaves the agency with only the list, and the list is the worst version of you.
Why this needs someone who has done it before
"Fit and proper person" sounds like a judgement about your character. In practice it is a judgement about risk. So the reply that works is not an apology. It is the whole record explained — how old each entry is, what was happening at the time, and what you have actually changed. Knowing which of those the agency weighs is most of what you pay for.
What's included
A first appointment that tells you straight whether there is an argument
Your complete driving history and the agency's file, obtained for you
Every entry accounted for, however far back it goes
Written submissions prepared with the ex-LTSA consultant
Filed with NZTA before the deadline printed on your letter
One fixed fee, in instalments, with $575 of it only if it works
Phone and Zoom appointments nationwide. Mon–Fri 9am–9pm · Sat 2pm–6pm.
$2,075 all up, and $575 of that only if it works
Here it is on the page, before you ring, because nobody wants to have to ask.
As far as we can find, nobody else in New Zealand advertises this service at all, so there is nothing honest to compare the price to.
Here is how it is built. $1,150 covers assessing your letter, the long appointment, and preparing and filing the written submissions. $350 is the ex-LTSA consultant. $575 is payable only if your endorsement or licence is granted or restored — if it is not, that part is never charged.
The first appointment is inside the $1,150, not charged on top of it. Our fees page headlines a $230 appointment rate because that is how most matters are built. This one is not — the assessment and the long first appointment are both part of the $1,150.
You can pay as you go, in instalments. Debit card, credit card or online transfer.
There are no court fees on this. Every other page on this site lists what the court charges on top. This process never goes near a court, so the numbers beside this are the whole cost.
And the comparison that actually matters is not with another lawyer. A P endorsement is a full-time living. Weigh it against that.
Legal fees (all incl GST)
Assessment of your NZTA letter, appointment, and written submissions - $1,150
Consultation with ex-LTSA specialist - $350
Wrap-up fee, only if the endorsement or licence is granted or restored - $575
Total if successful - $2,075
Total if not - $1,500
No court filing fees apply to this process.
First appointment included — no separate $230 charge on this service. Payable in instalments. Ask when you call.
There is a method to this. It is not a letter saying sorry.
Six steps, a few weeks. Three are ours, two need something from you, and the last one belongs to NZTA. The steps marked YOU are where your own time goes.
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Before anything is written we get your complete driving history and the agency's file — every infringement, every warning, every previous letter. You cannot explain a record you have not read.
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This is the long appointment, and it is where your time goes. Every entry gets an explanation: what happened, and what was going on at the time. Some will not have one, and saying so beats inventing it.
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Twenty tickets over fifteen years is not five in one year. The agency is looking for a pattern — and if there was one that stopped three years ago, saying so beats pretending there never was.
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This carries the most weight and only you can do it. A defensive driving course completed. A medical issue diagnosed and treated. A change of job, hours or route. A clean stretch of driving. A reference from an employer. A document beats a promise.
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Prepared by Melanie with the ex-LTSA consultant, addressed to what the agency actually assesses, and covering the whole history rather than the easy parts. Filed before your deadline.
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NZTA decides in its own time. If it goes your way the endorsement is granted or restored and you can usually be back at work quickly — in one matter the client was told to take a reference number to AA or VTNZ and was driving the same day.
Melanie Coxon
Barrister
Thirty plus years, and someone who used to work inside the agency.
Melanie Coxon is a barrister sole, admitted in 1993. You deal with her directly — no juniors, no hand-offs, no file passed to somebody you have never met. Her client liaison, Christopher, usually answers the phone.
In thirty-three years of practice there has never been a Law Society complaint against her.
The submissions are prepared with a consultant who worked at the LTSA, the agency NZTA grew out of. That is the $350 on the fee list above. It buys an understanding of how the assessment is actually made, and what the person reading your file is looking for.
"Great news. All my licences back. God bless you. My family prays for you. She is down to earth. Great lady. You guys help people, not like others."
Mohammed
A discharge is not quite the same as never having been charged.
In law, a discharge under section 106 is deemed to be an acquittal. There is no conviction, nothing to declare when a form asks about convictions, and nothing on a standard Ministry of Justice criminal record check. Three things still surprise people, so we'd rather say them here.
You can still be disqualified from driving. The court can still order disqualification, reparation, costs and a donation to charity as a condition of the discharge. On drink-drive matters a six-month disqualification alongside it is common in our own cases — and you can usually then apply for a work or limited licence on top.
Some forms ask about charges, not convictions. Several countries' visa applications, and some vetting processes, ask whether you have ever been charged. A discharge doesn't erase that, though it is still a far better answer to give.
The police record still exists, and the charge and its outcome can be seen in a full police vetting check for certain roles.
None of that is a reason not to apply. It is a reason to know what you're buying.
Every day you wait is a day off the road that you do not get back.
The deadline is the reason to ring today. It is not the only one. The work above takes weeks and some of it is yours — courses take time to finish, employers take time to write references.
Submissions filed on the last day with nothing attached are not the same document as submissions filed with four weeks of evidence behind them.
A long record is what we work with. It is not what disqualifies you.
The clients who won here did not have good records. The record was never the reason they got their endorsements back, and it was never the reason they might not have.
Seven NZTA warnings since 2010 — proposal to decline, all licences restored.
A taxi driver received notice that NZTA proposed to decline his goods service licence, his passenger endorsement and his small passenger service licence, on the basis that he was not a fit and proper person to hold any of them. It took a three-hour interview to work through the driving history and account for each entry, and written submissions setting out the health problems and other hardship his family had been under, and what he intended to do differently. NZTA gave him a second chance and returned the endorsement and both licences.
Five infringements in twelve months — endorsement reinstated.
A rideshare driver was assessed as not a fit and proper person after five infringement notices inside a year. Written submissions explained the circumstances behind each one and set out the steps he had already taken to change how he drove. NZTA reinstated the endorsement and he went back to work.
Twenty-nine infringements over seventeen years — endorsement restored.
A taxi driver had his P endorsement revoked. His wife was unable to work and the mortgage depended on his driving. Seventeen years of history had to be gone through and explained. He got it back.
Not every application succeeds. Some are declined, and you will be told honestly at the first appointment how yours looks.
Questions drivers ask
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It is the test NZTA applies before it lets somebody carry passengers or freight. It sounds like a judgement about your character. In practice it is about risk: is this person, driving for a living, more of a risk than the system should accept?
That is not a count of your tickets. It takes in how old the entries are, whether they are the same offence repeating or different ones scattered across twenty years, what was happening in your life at the time, and — the part people miss — what you have changed since.
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Not yet, and that is good news. At the proposal stage no decision has been made and you are replying before one is — a much better position than appealing a decision already made. If you have had a final decision, ring and say so. It is a different process and the timing is tighter.
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No. Most of this is a conversation about what happened and when, and you can take as long as you need. If you would rather have a family member on the call with you, bring them.
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The three matters above involved 29 infringements, 7 warnings and 5 tickets in a year. Volume is normal here. What matters more is the pattern, and what you have changed. One appointment will tell you whether there is something to argue.
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It depends on which letter you have. A proposal to decline is not the same as a revocation. Have it in front of you when you ring and you will get a straight answer.
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No. Phone, Zoom or email, anywhere in New Zealand. There is no court date in this process, so there is nothing to attend.
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Then the $575 wrap-up fee is never charged, and you will have been told before you started how likely that was. Ask at the first appointment; you will get a direct answer.
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The submissions take a few weeks to prepare properly, and how long NZTA takes to decide is up to NZTA. Start now — the deadline runs whether or not the rest is ready.
Bring the letter to the call.
One appointment tells you where you stand: what the letter means, whether there is an argument worth making, and what it will cost. If the honest answer is that it is not worth your money, you will be told that.
Have the letter in front of you when you ring. The date on it is the first thing we will ask about.
What our customers say
Melanie acts for clients throughout New Zealand — Invercargill to Cape Reinga. You won't need to travel to Auckland, and she can often cover the interim appearances so you're not taking days off work.