Man with $300-a-week Guinness habit found asleep at the wheel

An Irish immigrant who spends an astonishing amount on Guinness had to be woken up by police after he fell asleep at the wheel, a court has heard.

A man with a fondness for Guinness has faced court after falling asleep at the wheel following a drinking session on Brisbane’s eastside.

An Irish immigrant who fell asleep in his car in the middle of the road after a drinking session at the Shaftson Hotel in East Brisbane has been urged to deal with $300-a-week Guinness habit.

Steel fabricator David McCarthy, 27, blew three times the legal limit after police woke him up on Lang St in Sunnybank Hills on October 17 — 16km from the pub — a court has heard.

McCarthy’s lawyer, David Kerwin, said his client needed a work licence because he drove large distances across Brisbane fixing machinery for an asphalt company.

But Holland Park Magistrate, Simon Young, expressed concerns about McCarthy’s fitness to drive considering he had listed weekly expenses of $300 a week for alcohol and other consumables.

“He’s a man who has filled himself up with Guinness, driven out of a carpark and then stopped in the middle of the road and had to be woken up by the police,’’ Mr Young said.

“That was inherently dangerous and right on the cusp of high range drink driving.

“If he’s going out and getting drunk every week the court has to take that into account.

“But he wants to say he is a fit and proper person to drive a motor vehicle.’’

Mr Young said it appeared McCarthy, who had not completed a QTOP drink driving program, was not committed to changing his lifestyle.

“It seems your wage, as a single man, is sufficient to fund this lifestyle. There’s no suggestion this lifestyle is going to be addressed,’’ Mr Young told him.

However Mr Kerwin said his client, who was part-way through a 12-month good driving behaviour option at the time of the offence, had an otherwise modest traffic history.

He was highly regarded by his employer, who had provided a reference, and would face great hardship if he could not drive as he often worked at night or odd hours.

Mr Young fined McCarthy $750, recorded a conviction and disqualified him from driving for 12 months, but reluctantly granted him a work licence.

“I’m satisfied — just — that you’re a fit and proper person,’’ he said.