Bank manager Tate Howard busted drink-driving the morning after 20 vodkas
Bank manager Tate Howard thought he was just “hungover” after a night on the vodka and creaming soda. But when he was picked up on the M1, he blew a reading of 0.163.
Central Coast
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A bank manager was picked up for drink-driving on the M1 the morning after a boozy night because he let the registration slip on his BMW, a court has heard.
Tate Anthony Howard, of Saratoga, pleaded guilty to high-range drink-driving at Wyong Local Court on Monday after he was stopped on the M1 Motorway on January 19.
Police facts tendered to court state Highway Patrol officers were conducting checks on the freeway at Warnervale when they stopped his BMW at 10.36am after it came up as possibly being unregistered on their automatic number plate recognition system.
Further checks revealed the car’s registration expired on December 27, 2019.
He was breath tested at the scene, which returned a positive reading so officers placed him under arrest and took him to Wyong Police Station.
“The accused informed police that he had consumed around 20 drinks on the previous evening including vodka mixed with creaming soda between 4pm and 3am,” police facts read.
He was breath tested again at 10.50am and returned a reading of 0.163.
Howard’s solicitor Marc Riviere said the 35-year-old was a manager at a major bank who had 45 staff under him split between Sydney and Tuggerah.
His Linkedin account has him listed as a sales manager of direct mortgages at ING.
Mr Riviere said Howard did travelled about 25,000km a year for work and never intended to drive under the influence.
“It was a morning after offence,” Mr Riviere said.
“Mr Howard thought he was hungover.”
However Magistrate Caleb Franklin said Howard had “25 entries in his traffic history” including a drive while disqualified in 2004 and a previous drink-driving offence.
Howard was convicted, fined $1200 and put on a community corrections order for a year.
He was also disqualified from driving for six months and ordered to be on an interlock device for a further two years after he gets his licence back.