A Queenstown bar manager is on her last warning after crashing her work vehicle while more than four times the legal limit.
A subsequent breath test gave a result of 1183mcg — the legal limit is 250mcg.
At Spurling’s sentencing in the Queenstown District Court earlier this week, counsel Louise Denton said the defendant was so intoxicated she "actually didn’t know what she was doing".
"Where she was drinking was only a few hundred metres from her home."
Her employer, a resort hotel, could not claim insurance for the $13,000 in damage to the vehicle because of her drink-driving.
She had been demoted, her job restructured because she could no longer drive, and given a final written warning.
Although now on a "very tight leash", she was grateful to keep her job.
Community magistrate Simon Heale told Spurling he had read glowing references from her friends, but found it difficult to "reconcile the person who’s described in those and what you did".
"I’m pleased nobody’s injured ... first you but also anybody else on the road where you were driving so badly."
Convicting her of drink-driving and careless driving, he imposed a fine of $1500, court costs of $130 and a six-month driving ban, after which she will be on a zero-alcohol licence for three years.
