A young Lavington driver was so drunk as he swerved his car through Lavington last month that he pulled out a bank card and handed this to police when they demanded his licence.
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It turned out that Jack Gavin Anderson had drunk enough booze to end up three times over the legal limit.
His reading of 0.162 meant he was charged with having a prescribed concentration of alcohol, to which he has pleaded guilty in Albury Local Court.
It was almost a different outcome for the 27-year-old, his solicitor, Mark Cronin, explained, as Anderson started out that night drinking at a friend’s place.
“It was his intention to leave his car there and walk home,” he said.
But, Mr Cronin said, Anderson changed his mind and got into his Ford Falcon XR6, and headed off.
“He deeply regrets that very foolish decision, your honour,” he told magistrate Rodney Brender.
Mr Brender noted how Anderson’s “clean record” meant he was “more prepared” to reduce his licence disqualification to the minimum allowed of six months.
The events that led to Anderson’s facing court unfolded on August 26 about 2.30am.
That was when police doing a routine patrol in Mate Street, North Albury, when they saw Anderson’s car heading north.
They followed his car as it crossed the Five Ways intersection into Wagga Road, veering left and across an unbroken line on the road into the lane reserved for vehicles merging from Urana Road.
Within moments police were watching as Anderson’s car swerved left and right twice, before almost crashing into trees planted near the kerb.
Mr Cronin pointed out to Mr Brender that the trees “were actually planted very close to the roadway”.
The court was told how the police then turned on their car’s warning lights and sirens and pulled over Anderson’s car.
When asked to produce his driver’s licence Anderson pulled out his Visa debit card “believing that was his licence”.
They asked him again and this time he found his NSW licence.
After giving a positive result to a preliminary breath test, Anderson was cautioned and taken to Albury police station.
He had drunk three 375 millilitre cans of Bourbon whiskey and cola over six hours, while eating nothing except two dims and a potato cake just before he was stopped by police.
