A CARGO woman fined for drink-driving told the court she was trying to avoid a dust storm.
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Davina Clay, 40 of Wall Street Cargo faced Parkes Local Court on Monday, charged with drive with mid-range PCA after she registered a blood alcohol reading of 0.081 at Tullamore.
According to police, Clay was pulled over in Cardigan Street at 8.05am on November 4 for a roadside breath test.
Clay told police she had consumed an unknown quantity of Great Northern mid-strength beer between 1pm and midnight the day before at a Jimmy Barnes concert.
Her licence was suspended and confiscated.
Quite clearly it is likely to reoccur because it has. Three times
- Magistrate Fiona Toose
Clay's solicitor, Bill Burke, told the court his client drove earlier than she expected on the morning after the concert.
"There was an impending dust storm and without having had breakfast she drove to get out before the storm hit," he said.
He asked for the minimum disqualification and an interlock period so she could drive to work.
Magistrate Fiona Toose said it was Clay's third drink-driving charge and she had, unusually, been given good behaviour bonds without conviction on the two previous occasions.
"There doesn't appear to be any aggravating feature in relation to your driving at the time, however I can't ignore the fact that you have previously come to court for drink driving offences, so when you say you are careful not to drink and drive I think you really need to put that into practice," she said.
"If you are going to have a big night out, the chances are you are going to be over the limit the next day."
Ms Toose said she needed to consider whether the offence was likely to happen again.
"Quite clearly it is likely to reoccur because it has. Three times," she said.
Ms Toose fined Clay $800, disqualified her from driving for three months and ordered her to comply with an interlock order for 12 months.
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