20 drink-drive cases heard in Wagga Local Court in one day

THEIR drinking hangovers were long gone, but for the 20 people facing drink-driving charges on the Wagga Local Court criminal list yesterday the real consequences of their actions were hitting home.One young man looking forward to a new career will be sacked because he has lost his licence.A woman who drank a bottle of wine at a club and drove home to Kapooka instead of catching a taxi will now be spending hundreds of dollars on taxi fares going to and from work.A well-respected Wagga man who has been driving for 54 years had to draw on his good traffic record and fine character to escape conviction.Those who were sentenced yesterday all had reasons for drinking and driving during the Christmas and New Year period, but none had excuses.Some were caught for what is known as the “morning after” offence.One of them was a 24-year-old woman,who escaped conviction because of a combination of factors.She was stopped for a random breath test while going to McDonald’s for breakfast 10 hours after her last drink.She returned a blood alcohol reading of .03, but because she was a P-plater she was charged with driving with a special-range prescribed concentration of alcohol (PCA).“It is difficult for young drivers (P-platers are not to have any alcohol in their blood when driving), but the law is the law,” magistrate Geoff Hiatt said.High range drink driver, 26-year-old Candice McCulloch, was before the court for the first time in her life.“She very much regrets her lack of judgement on this particular day,” said her solicitor, Debbie Flynn, after McCulloch pleaded guilty to driving with a blood alcohol reading of .170 – more than three times the legal limit.McCulloch drank a bottle of wine between 3pm and 11pm at the RSL Club and had nothing to eat during that time.She was caught after being stopped for a random breath test.For the next year she faces having to catch taxis to and from work after being disqualified from driving for 12 months, and will have to pay a $700 fine.Scott Turner only just started a job with a real estate firm, but will not be there for long after pleading guilty and being convicted of driving with a high-range blood alcohol reading of .160.He was stopped for a random breath test in the same street in which he lives.“He could not say he did not know he was affected, but he did not know he was as bad as high range,” Turner’s solicitor, Robert Stone, told the court.“He is going to lose his job out of this,” Mr Stone said. “They can’t keep him, that is a significant blow for him.”Turner was fined $400 – a lower than normal fine because of his financial circumstances which include having to pay a mortgage now with no income – and disqualified from driving for 12 months.Vicki Hampton is a 35-year-old learner driver who yesterday pleaded guilty through her solicitor to driving with a high-range PCA, driving unaccompanied and not displaying L-plates.Her case was adjourned to March 2 to confirm her proposed enrolment in a Police and Community Youth Club traffic offenders program.There were three high range, four low range, 10 middle range and four special-range PCA charges on the court list yesterday, with one woman charged with both low range and special- range PCA.Several had their matters adjourned to a later date.