NAMED: Drink drivers dealt with in Gympie Magistrates Court

From waiting until the next morning, to trying to get their friends home safely, eight drivers were caught driving while over the limit in the Gympie region and had to front court this week.

Cody James Burden (left), Ashley Grant Edridge (top right) and Trent Kirkwood (bottom right) are three of eight drink drivers to have fronted Gympie Magistrates Court this week.

Gympie Magistrate Andrew Walker had a busy day on Thursday, with more than seven drivers pleading guilty to driving over the general alcohol limit.

Callum William Schoenmakers, 28, who appeared in court via video link, blew 0.103 when he was tested by police following a crash on Louisa St, Gympie on May 28.

The court heard Schoenmakers was driving home after he had been out drinking, when witnesses saw a car skid around a corner before leaving the road and hitting a fence.

He was also found driving on Cartwright Rd on March 30, with traces of cannabis in his saliva.

Schoenmakers was fined $1200 for both offences and disqualified from driving for 12 months.

His conviction was also recorded.

Christopher Ian Algie, 45, was pulled over by police while driving on Mary Valley Rd at Jones Hill on May 10, with the way he was driving alerting police.

He blew 0.072 during a roadside breath test.

Mr Walker granted him a work licence, but he was fined $400 and disqualified from driving for one month.

His conviction was also recorded.

Ashley Grant Edridge, 20, was pulled over by police while driving on Exhibition Rd at the Southside on the morning of May 23, where he blew 0.052.

Edridge said he had been drinking the night before and tried to do the right thing by waiting until the next day to drive.

He was fined $350 and disqualified from driving for a month.

His conviction was also recorded.

Ashley Tyroan Middlebrook, 18, was pulled over by police while driving on Mellor St in Gympie on the night of May 22.

Middlebrooke, a P Plater, was driving his friends home after a night out and blew 0.029 when subject to a breath test.

He was fined $350 and disqualified from driving for three months.

His conviction was not recorded.

Cody James Burdon, 22, blew 0.055 after hooning on Teewah Beach on April 18.

Police were called to the scene after a medical alert where a man was injured from falling out of the tray of Burdon’s car, and police found evidence of hooning on the beach, the court heard.

Burdon was also on a suspended licence at the time.

He was fined $800 and disqualified from driving for five months.

His conviction was also recorded.

Trent Kirkwood, 39, was pulled over by police while driving on Hilton Rd on May 9, where he blew 0.057.

He was granted a work licence by Mr Walker, but fined $450 and disqualified from driving for two months.

His conviction was also recorded.