Mark Wayne Jones admits to illegally driving after being pulled over on the way to COVID testing facility

A South West man pleaded guilty in Manjimup Magistrates Court on Thursday to driving while on a suspended licence after being caught by police while behind the wheel on the way to a COVID-19 testing facility. Mark Wayne Jones was pulled over by police on December 16 last year while he was traveling to the Warren Health Service in Manjimup to get tested for coronavirus. Police discovered the man did not have a valid licence after he received more than 12 demerit points and was suspended. When police asked Jones why he was behind the wheel he told them under his quarantining guidelines he was required to test negative to COVID-19 and there was no way to get tested at home. Jones explained his situation to Magistrate Joanne Andretich, saying he flew to Darwin for an “emergency” last year when the borders were still open. However, while he was in the Northern Territory there was an outbreak of COVID-19 in Katherine which caused the WA State Government to reimpose stricter travel requirements. As he was unvaccinated he was not allowed to fly home so Jones spent the next four weeks getting the jab in order to board a plane back to WA which he did on December 13. Being allowed to quarantine at his farm in the South West, one of the requirements was for Jones to complete two negative tests during his isolation stint. As there were no home testing kits available at the time and Jones did not want to potentially infect anyone else, he decided to drive himself to the hospital to undergo the swab. Ms Andretich said although she sympathised with Jones for his situation and said the rapid changing of border and COVID-19 policies had left some people caught out, the obligation was on Jones to notify police he intended to drive rather than have them find out on the road. Jones was fined $400 and had his licence suspended for a further nine months. “If you drove here, I would not be driving home,” Ms Andretich said.