A truck driver on his way home after delivering goods thought he’d have a few drinks before hitting the road.
Seven beers later, or probably more according to a judge, Tony Wells was seen drifting across the highway and crossing the centre line at least 20 times, causing other drivers to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
He was found later to have been behind the wheel of his truck while close to four times the legal alcohol limit.
The police caught up with him after the second time he stopped to relieve himself on the side of the road, in suburban Richmond.
He told police he’d stopped in Motueka for a few drinks after work before travelling to Richmond, and that his swerving all over the road was because of the wind and not his intoxication.
Judge Tony Snell said while sentencing Wells, who appeared in the Nelson District Court via video link from Christchurch, that was doubtful.
“You say it wasn’t because you were intoxicated but it was the wind that made you sway, but I don’t believe that.
“You were driving badly because you were intoxicated,” Judge Snell said.
He said in the sentencing, marked by his order to remove Wells’ partner from the courtroom after her cellphone rang loudly for a third time, that for a commercial truck driver, it was serious offending.
Judge Snell lost his patience when the noise of the phone drowned out proceedings in the Nelson court, and the registrar tried explaining the woman was having difficulty turning it off.
“Once is a mistake,” he bellowed.
He had since secured a new job where he was based in Christchurch, his lawyer Jackie van Schalkwyk said.
Wells admitted in July charges of being a transport services driver, driving with excess breath alcohol and driving dangerously.
It was the evening of March 21, at about 6.20pm when Wells was first spotted driving erratically on State Highway 60, causing other drivers to get out of his way.
He continued through roadworks, knocking over road cones before he stopped near a turnoff on the highway and was seen to “stumble out of his vehicle” and urinate on the side of the road.
Wells then got back into the truck and drove towards Richmond where he was seen to get out of the truck and relieve himself again behind the vehicle.
The police were called and after speaking with Wells, an evidential breath test showed he had been driving with 959 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit is 250mcg.
Judge Richard Russell said at Wells’ earlier plea appearance that the fact he was driving a big rig heightened the duty to other drivers on the road.
Judge Snell noted that Wells had 11 previous convictions that were irrelevant to the offences for which he was sentenced yesterday, except for one drink-drive matter in 2012, when he was found driving with “another very high” breath alcohol reading of 871 mcg of alcohol per litre of breath.
Judge Snell sentenced Wells to nine months of supervision that included conditions he attend an alcohol and drugs programme, plus 90 hours of community work, reduced from a possible 120 hours, to reflect the very high alcohol level.
Wells was also disqualified from driving on his class one licence (that applied to a private car) for eight months and on each offence, he was disqualified from driving for a year on his class 2,3,4 and 5 licence that applied to heavy vehicles.
Wells would then need to reapply for his commercial driver’s licence.
