A TRADESPERSON with one of the “most physical” jobs paid a hefty price for a few beers after work when he chose to drive drunk and he had never held a licence.
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According to his solicitor, Mick Madden, being a brick layer is a tough job and job in which most employees go to the pub for a few drinks on a Friday afternoon.
Michael Richard Stevens did the right thing, initially, and walked home after he had drank at the pub but he made a stupid decision after he went home, Mr Madden told Orange Local Court.
“He got a call for assistance and then he went and gave that assistance,” he said.
The 42-year-old, of McLachlan Street, had recently bought a vehicle in a bid to obtain a licence.
Police pulled his car over at 9.55pm in Endsleigh Avenue and he told officers he did not have a licence.
Police facts said he was “well affected” by alcohol, had blood shot eyes and was unsteady on his feet.
He told them he had consumed five schooners of full strength beer at the pub between 3pm and 7pm and had not had a meal.
His blood-alcohol reading was 0.178, which was in the high-range category.
Mr Madden argued his client had learned a great deal from the PCYC traffic offenders program and understood what could have happened if police had not pulled him over when they did.
He asked the magistrate, Terry Lucas, to consider the minimum licence disqualification period given Stevens had entered an early guilty plea.
Mr Lucas disqualified him from driving for two years, put him on a good behaviour bond for two years and fined him $500 for not having a licence.
“You did almost everything right, right up until the final act,” Mr Lucas told him.
A MAN who had never held a licence, drank 10 full strength beers and attracted the attention of police.
Brian Noel Baxter represented himself in Orange Local Court on Thursday after he was charged with mid-range drink-driving and driving without ever holding a licence.
Police facts said the manner in which the 21-year-old drove was the reason he was brought to officers’ attention at 11.35pm on Saturday, May 31.
He drove through a give way sign, stopped abruptly, sighted police and turned left at the Dalton Street, Clinton Street intersection.
Police pulled his car over and he told them he did not have a licence.
His blood-alcohol reading was 0.83, which was in the mid-range category.
Baxter grinned and shrugged when the magistrate, Terry Lucas, told him he would be disqualified from driving.
The Hill Street resident was fined $800 for drink-driving, $200 for driving without a licence and he was disqualified from driving for six months.