Mildura Magistrates’ Court: Andrew Besgrove pleads guilty to driving unlicensed and driving under the influence

A Mildura tradie, fearing his tool might be stolen, jumped behind the wheel of his car — only his licence was suspended and he’d been on the sauce.

Andrew Besgrove pleaded guilty in Mildura Magistrates’ Court to driving unlicensed and drink driving. Image: Glenn Milne

A Mildura man caught drink driving while unlicensed told a court he got behind the wheel because he was “scared his tools would get stolen”.

Andrew Besgrove, 57, pleaded guilty at Mildura Magistrates’ Court on October 10 to driving unlicensed and driving while over the limit.

Police saw the full time concreter driving on June 2 at 10.30pm, and when they pulled him over found his licence was suspended. He then topped it off by blowing 0.0137 — unlicensed drivers are required to have a blood alcohol reading of 0.00.

Besgrove’s lawyer Hugh Middleton told the court his client wouldn’t have driven if not for fear of his tools being stolen.

“He wasn’t planning to drive, but he had expensive equipment in the back of his ute and he saw some people he believed to be the culprits of an earlier theft,” Mr Middleton said.

Mr Middleton told the court Besgrove’s licence had lapsed during the Covid lockdowns and that he had yet to renew it.

Besgrove was fined a total of $986.70 for his offending and his licence was cancelled for 13 months.