Goulburn Valley drivers smacked with fines for drug, drink driving, speeding

Repeat offenders, a P-plater burning rubber and a supervising driver setting a bad example are among the bad drivers busted on the roads of the Goulburn Valley

Police have nabbed several bad drivers across the Goulburn Valley in recent months, including a P-plater who was doing a “little skid”.

From a “cheeky little skid” to recording a blood alcohol reading twice the legal limit 12 hours after drinking, these are the latest dodgy drivers to front Shepparton Magistrates’ Court.

P-plater’s ‘cheeky little skid’

A P-plater has been reprimanded by a magistrate after he was busted by police doing a “cheeky little skid”.

Aadon Latham, 20, pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to causing his wheels to lose traction.

He was driving on Kialla Lakes Drive on March 14 about 10.20pm when police observed him doing a U-turn and accelerating heavily.

His back wheels lost traction causing smoke to appear and skid marks to be left on the road.

Police soon intercepted him at a nearby car wash.

When officers asked if he knew why he had been pulled over Latham said because he did “a cheeky little skid”.

Latham’s vehicle was impounded for 30 days.

Latham was fined $500 without conviction.

Supervising driver detected over alcohol limit

A dad supervising his son on his L-plates was detected with more than double the blood alcohol limit while in the passenger seat.

Daniel Lawford pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to not being under 0.05 while in the passenger seat for an L-plater.

Lawford told police he had been drinking until 4am that day when he was pulled over about 3.30pm at a breath testing site in Shepparton.

Daniel Lawford was breath tested 12 hours after his last drink the night before and was twice the legal limit. Picture: Kiel Egging.

Magistrate Simon Zebrowski said it “must have been a massive session” to have a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.107 almost 12 hours later.

He said it “was not a good example” to be setting for the learner driver but he had “learnt a fairly significant lesson”.

Lawford’s lawyer Emma King said the alcohol reading shocked him as he felt “completely fine”.

She said Lawford was taking the matter very seriously.

He was fined $500 without conviction.

Police nab speeding mum

A mum running late was pulled over by police after speeding 15km/h above the speed limit at Katunga.

Nicole Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of speeding in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court.

In December last year, Smith was driving north on Numurkah Rd where police

detected her doing 93km/h speed in an 80km/h zone

They estimated Smith was then travelling about 120km/h after the speed limit increased to 100km/h and she overtook another vehicle.

A static police patrol caught a woman travelling more than 10km/h over the limit in a 80km/h zone.

Her recorded speed was 113km/h and she was intercepted by the police.

Smith told officers she was running late to a first aid course she was required to do for her work and was not concentrating.

Magistrate Zebrowski said Smith did “not have the greatest driving record I have ever seen”.

“If something is important to you, you treat it as valuable so if you’re licence is valuable to you, you have got to be more careful,” he said.

She was fined $500 without conviction.

Drug driver caught out driving suspended

A woman who had her licence suspended for drug driving, was again caught driving under the influence of drugs, this time driving while being disqualified.

Amanda Hutchinson pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court to two charges.

She was observed by police on December 9 last year driving on St Georges Rd in Shepparton and was intercepted.

An oral fluid test revealed Hutchinson tested positive to having methylamphetamine in her system.

Amanda Hutchinson returned a. Picture: Victoria Police

She made full admissions to police about using ice the weekend prior and her car was impounded for 30 days.

Hutchinson told the court she had been referred to a health service by her GP to access drug and alcohol counselling.

Magistrate Zebrowski said he was glad she was addressing the issue.

”You can’t use drugs if you have a licence, it’s not like alcohol where you can have a few drinks and are fine the next morning, it doesn’t come out of your system and there’s no way to judge it,” he said.

Hutchinson was disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined $500 without conviction.

Maccas run ends in licence loss

A man who wanted to go on a Maccas run in Mooroopna after drinking alcohol was pulled up by police after he made an illegal right turn.

Manueli Qiolevu pleaded guilty in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court on Monday to driving offences.

On January 27, 2025 Qiolevu was driving on Elizabeth St about 3.15am and turned right onto the Midland Highway, where drivers are only permitted to turn left as signposted.

He was intercepted by police who believed he had alcohol on his breath and asked him to accompany them to the station.

Qiolevu returned a BAC of 0.123, was immediately suspended from driving and had his vehicle impounded.

When asked by police why he was driving he said he knew he had drunk alcohol but “just wanted to buy McDonalds in Mooroopna’.

Qiolevu’s licence was suspended for 12 months, starting from January 27, and he was convicted and fined $600.