San Remo: P2 driver Mark Taylor, 43, charged with high range drink driving after clipping car

A middle-aged P-plater was done high range drink-driving after swerving all over the road and clipping another car on his way to buy smokes, a court has heard.

Mark Taylor, 43, of San Remo, leaving Wyong Local Court where he was convicted of his second high range drink-driving offence within five years. Picture: NewsLocal

Mark Taylor, of San Remo, doesn’t drink every day. But when he does, he can’t stop.

That was his lawyer’s submission to Wyong Local Court where she pleaded guilty on his behalf to his second high range drink-driving offence within five years.

Anna Stoddard said her client’s memory of the incident was “pretty hazy” and that he’d started drinking about 3pm that afternoon and “may have been going to the shops for cigarettes”.

An agreed set of facts states Taylor was driving a black Hyundai Tucson south on the Pacific Highway about 11.30pm on Friday, January 12, when he pulled alongside another motorist in a Subaru Forester.

“The accused has begun to swerve from lane two to lane one,” the facts state.

“Driver two proceeded to get ahead of the accused to avoid being hit. The accused continued to swerve in and out of the lanes before hitting vehicle two on the driver’s side rear panels.”

Both drivers pulled over and exchanged details.

Taylor leaving Wyong Local Court where he was convicted of his second high range drink-driving offence within five years. Picture: NewsLocal

Police arrived a short time later and Taylor admitted he’d been drinking.

He failed a roadside test and was taken to Toukley Police Station where he recorded a high range blood alcohol reading of 0.158.

Ms Stoddard told the court her client was at a “critical juncture” in his life and that while he didn’t drink every day, alcohol was a problem because when started “he cannot stop”.

She said his alcohol abuse was exacerbated by a beak down in the relationship with the mother of his children, coupled with his own childhood issues.

Magistrate Robert Munro said as P2 driver, Taylor’s blood alcohol limit was supposed to be “zero”.

He said it was lucky Taylor didn’t kill himself or someone else and that he should have learned from his first high range drink-driving offence in 2019, which the court heard resulted in him being disqualified from driving for six months, fined $1500 and put on an interlock order for 24 months.

Mr Munro said Taylor was very close to crossing the threshold to warrant a jail sentence.

Instead he sentenced him to a community correction order for 18 months with 100 hours community service, fined him $1300, disqualified him for 10 months and put him on an interlock order for a further four years.