Allan Whittaker pleads guilty to Tweed drink drive cop car crash

A drink driving bus driver “drifted on and off the road a number of times” before he crashed into a parked police car while taking crew members back to their hotel.

Lawyer Russell Baxter (left) speaks with bus driver Allan Whittaker, who pleaded guilty in Tweed Heads Local Court to drink driving.

A Murwillumbah bus driver had crew members from I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here when he crashed into a police car while drink driving, a court has heard.

Allan Whittaker, 52, pleaded guilty in Tweed Heads Local Court on Monday to low range drink driving and negligent driving.

According to court papers, Whittaker was hired by a television production company to transport cast and crew from Dungay Creek to their accommodation in Tweed Heads.

Driving a Mitsubishi Rosabus, Whittaker left the set at 11pm on September 8 and began travelling towards the Mantra Hotel in Tweed Heads.

He crashed into an unoccupied parked police car outside the Wharf Street police station about 11.40pm.

Officers inside the station heard the noise.

Whittaker left the bus and police assisted the four passengers inside.

Police asked him if he had been drinking and he said “no, not tonight” before testing positive for a roadside breath test.

He was taken to the police station where he returned a reading of 0.065.

Whittaker told police he’d drink four glasses of wine between 2pm and 3pm, however police doubted the claim due to the reading returned.

Whittaker had a flushed face, bloodshot, glassy and pinpointed eyes and unsteady balance.

Passengers told police he had drifted on and off the road a number of times before the crash.

Defence lawyer Russell Baxter told the court Whittaker had eaten a meal earlier that day with a few glasses of wine before having a sleep.

He said at the time of the incident a passenger had asked him to change the radio channel and he’d drifted sideways before hitting the police car.

Mr Baxter told the court Whittaker had previously been a school bus driver and had never had an incident even when school kids were having fights on the bus.

He said Whittaker had lost his employment and would also lose the school bus run.

Magistrate Geoff Dunlevy said Whittaker’s case stood out from others due to him crashing into a police car.

He also said Whittaker’s character references spoke very highly of him.

Whittaker was sentenced to a two year conditional release order with no conviction or licence disqualification.