This meant Andrew Robertson was allowed to keep his licence after pleading guilty in Albury Local Court on Tuesday.

Magistrate Richard Funston told the Thurgoona man his early guilty plea contributed to his decision to apply such discretion over the offence, detected on February 28 just after midnight.

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Also in Robertson's favour was his almost blemish-free 31-year driving record - he had only a couple of minor speeding matters - and the fact his reading of 0.084 was at the lower end of the mid-range prescribed concentration of alcohol.

Defence lawyer Mark Cronin said Robertson had returned from a road trip to Sydney the previous day about 6pm.

This was when he read a news report related to the court progress of illegal police data access allegations made against him.

Robertson is fighting these two charges of accessing or modifying restricted data held on a computer, which were adjourned on Tuesday to a hearing on July 29.

Reading the report unsettled him, so he began drinking while eating snacks.

Mr Cronin said Robertson went to bed about 11.30pm, then soon after was woken by a telephone call from his 18-year-old daughter.

She was in an "hysterical" state.

He said Robertson had never intended to drive that night and it was only because of the need to collect his daughter, whose welfare had him greatly concerned, that he indeed got in his car.

"Any parent would be concerned."

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The court was told that Robertson first collected his estranged wife - who had received a similar call, but did not have a driver's licence - from her home.

He was returning when he was pulled over for a random breath test in McDonald Road, Lavington, near the intersection of Wagga Road, at 12.09am.

Mr Cronin said there was nothing untoward in his driving and "no signs of intoxication".

Robertson's prosecution on the drink-driving matter, as it is with the restricted data allegations, was handled by the the Director of Public Prosecutions' Group 6 unit, which deals with special crime including police officers charged with criminal offences.

DPP representative Elissa Costigan said it was pertinent that the round trip Robertson undertook that night while affected by alcohol was 10 minutes each way.

But she told Mr Funston there was no issue with the court affording Robertson such leniency.

Material submitted by Mr Cronin to the court included a statement about the night from Robertson's daughter.

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