Finance planning boss blew three times over after footy tipping booze bender at Hotel Brighton
A financial planner’s bid to drive home after an 11-hour footy tipping drinking session at a Brighton hotel has been thwarted by police, who watched the man stagger to his car and take off.
Inner South
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A financial planner who couldn’t count his drinks after celebrating a footy tipping competition final at his local pub has a new number to work with – 17.
That’s the number of months he is off the road for after he blew more than three times over the legal limit following an all-day drinking session at Hotel Brighton.
Martin Reyment, who lives just 700m from the Bay St watering hole, was watched by police as he walked to his car parked just across the road.
Officers were astounded to see a staggering Reyment get in and begin to drive, before they quickly pulled him over.
He recorded a breath alcohol content of .179, and lost his licence on the spot.
The 51-year-old pleaded guilty to one charge of drink-driving at Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
The court heard Reyment and his mates had been celebrating an end-of season footy tipping competition at Hotel Brighton on August 23 this year, starting their liquids at lunchtime.
After drinking until about 1am the next day he left the premises and walked across the road, got in his car and drove off, before alert police stopped him.
He told officers he had been drinking since lunch and was driving home.
His defence lawyer said the financial planning business owner had never been in court before and was “enormously embarrassed” to be here now.
He said he had made a “regrettable decision” to drive home, especially considering he lived only 700m away from the pub.
He said the “reckless and dangerous” choice has already come back to haunt him as he was now not able to teach his son how to drive.
He was remorseful, the act was out of character and he had embarked on a road trauma awareness course, the lawyer said, pleading for no conviction to be recorded.
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Magistrate Charles Tan said it was hard not to impose a conviction when someone was three-and-a-half times over the legal limit.
He said if Reyment ever got caught drink-driving again a jail sentence was entirely possible.
Reyment was convicted and fined $1200 and disqualified from driving for 17 months, backdated to August.