Mr Allen, who has been relieving in Orange for several weeks before taking up his appointment as magistrate at Bathurst, says Orange has a big issue with drink-drivers.

He has told the Central Western Daily that during his time on the bench in Orange he has been surprised by the number of people coming before the court in Orange on drink-driving charges.

“This is such a prevalent offence in Orange,” Mr Allen said.

“I just find it incredibly interesting that drivers are continuing to ignore the messages about drink-driving and I find that very disappointing.

“Its taking up a lot of our court time.”

“Particularly when all the drink-driving campaigns are continuing.”

Mr Allen said drivers in Orange ignoring drink-driving warnings was putting added pressure on the court.

“And some of those people are using their right of appeal come back to the court again to see if they can have their licence restored,” he said.

Mr Allen said in his experience people didn’t realise they were putting their jobs in jeopardy by having too many drinks when out with friends.

“To me the message is just quite simple - just make other arrangements to get yourself home and don’t take the chance of getting in your car,” he said.

He said drink-driving was a big issue that needed to be addressed in Orange.

Mr Allen said people often underestimated how much they had to drink, and going over the limit could be attributed to a number of factors including body weight and food consumption.

“Just don’t drink and drive,” he said.