‘Five times over’: Court hears of quad bike rider’s drunken ride

The man’s solicitor agreed the reading was a “worry” but said he only travelled 100m and couldn't drive very fast due to an ankle injury.

The man was caught driving a quad bike nearly fives times over the legal limit, a court heard.

“Extraordinary” was one word a magistrate used to describe a Glenreagh man’s blood alcohol reading after he drove a quad bike while nearly five times over.

Benjamin Arthur Egan was riding the quad bike on May 27 when he was stopped by police, it was heard in Coffs Harbour Local Court.

Flanked by family, Egan recently appeared in court for sentencing on charges of High Range drink driving, riding without a helmet, driving an unregistered vehicle and driving an uninsured vehicle.

The court heard Egan had come to the attention of police after a patron at a nearby pub told officers they saw him riding his “unregistered four-wheel motorcycle” without a helmet.

Police conducted a breath test, which returned a positive reading of 0.243, it was heard.

“(The reading) is obviously extraordinarily high. It’s nearly five times over the limit,” Magistrate Ian Rodgers said.

“He was posing a significant danger to other people and himself.”

The man recently appeared for sentencing at Coffs Harbour Local Court.

Egan’s solicitor agreed the reading was a “worry”, but highlighted to the magistrate that Egan had only travelled under 100m when he was stopped.

They added the man – who got on the bike after an argument with his partner – could not travel fast due to an ankle injury.

“The only thing that saves him your honour is that he was going no more than 2km an hour, and it was a very short distance,” they said.

The solicitor revealed Egan had obtained his licence at the age of 38, as he was illiterate. They said he had since learned to read and write and was undertaking studies to gain employment as he no longer wanted to rely on “Centrelink.”

Magistrate Rodgers took into account these factors, including that Egan would need a licence to travel for future employment.

For driving unregistered and uninsured, Egan was convicted with no further penalty and for riding without a helmet he was convicted and fined $120.

For High Range drink driving, he was convicted and fined $1,000. His licence was disqualified for six months, and will have to ride with a mandatory alcohol interlock device for a period of 24 months.