Nicholls failed to appear in Young Local Court to face the charge of drive while licence application refused for a second or more offence after he was caught behind the wheel of a car between a service centre and restaurant in Goulburn.

The 45-year-old was convicted in his absence, disqualified from driving for two years and sentenced to 12 months in prison with a non-parole period of four months. Nicholls will not be eligible for release from prison until February 16, 2018.

According to the police facts submitted in Young Local Court in the early hours of the morning on Tuesday April 11 Nicholls was seen by officers driving. 

Officers saw Nicholls behind the wheel of a Toyota Hilux that pulled out of the Shell Service Centre at South Goulburn and onto Sowery Street and into the McDonalds car park.

The officers followed Nicholls before they approached him and spoke to him in the McDonalds car park.

Police asked him for a drivers licence to which he replied he didn’t have one and believed he was disqualified at the time.

Nicholls was asked to take a breath test which returned a negative result. 

The officers followed up on his claim that his licence was disqualified and checks revealed Nicholls was actually ‘refused’ a licence.

He was placed under arrest and his identity confirmed with a photo.

Nicholls licence had previously been ‘refused’ from February 23, 2017 until May 23, 2017 in Wagga Local Court.