Brent Walden: Nimbin Taxi employee sentenced after drink drive crash

A North Coast man has learnt his fate for a Jack Daniels-induced truck crash that happened just a day after he was caught drink driving.

A North Coast taxi employee was back on the road a day after being caught for drink driving when he crashed his truck.

Loftville man Brent Nathan Walden, 33, was sentenced in Lismore Local Court on Monday for two counts of mid-range drink driving and two counts of driving with an expired licence.

Walden was driving on Conway St in Lismore when police pulled him over for not having headlights on and entering a roundabout quickly about midnight on October 2, according to court documents.

Officers immediately noticed he had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes.

The police then tested his blood alcohol, which returned a reading of 0.142.

Walden, a worker at a Nimbin taxi service, was back behind the wheel with a passenger on board a day later.

He was turning a pantech truck off Brewster St into Laurel Ave about 7.53pm on October 3 when he lost control of the vehicle, according to court documents.

The truck tipped over and slid for about five metres before stopping.

Police were later called to the scene and took Walden in for questioning.

He told them he had been drinking premixed Jack Daniels from about 11.30am without eating.

Walden was again breath tested where he recorded a blood alcohol concentration of 0.128.

Magistrate Michael Dakin on Monday said while the October 3 reading was lower, it was made more serious by the crash.

He convicted Walden on all four counts and sentenced him to an 18-month community corrections order for the drink driving charges.

He was ordered to pay a $400 fine for one of the expired licence charges.

Walden was further disqualified from holding a driver‘s licence for six months.

“Don’t be tempted to drive,” Mr Dakin said.