Gold Coast chef almost five-times the limit when he crashed his car on a Macca’s run

A Gold Coast chef was many times above the legal alcohol limit when he tried to do a New Year’s Macca’s run for friends. It turned out to be a very costly mistake.

A FIVE-STAR chef should have “crawled” the three blocks to McDonalds rather than driving while almost five time the legal limit, a court was told.

Joshua Vincent Murphy, 25, was lucky to leave his car unscathed after crashing into a power pole in Palm Beach about 6.50am on New Year’s Day with a blood alcohol reading of 0.232 per cent, the Southport Magistrates Court was told.

Murphy was on a three block trip to get some McDonald’s after a night out in Burleigh for New Year’s Eve.

Magistrate Pamela Dowse said: “Three blocks — you could have crawled.”

Murphy pleaded guilty to driving under the influence.

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He was on his way to get some McDonald’s when he took a corner on Twenty Third Avenue too fast, sliding across the road and into a power pole, the court was told.

Magistrate Dowse said getting behind the wheel while so intoxicated was “absolutely outrageous behaviour”.

“You could be without your life,” she said.

“Who drives into a power pole going for McDonald’s?”

Ms Dowse fined Murphy $1,200 and disqualified him from driving for 10 months.

“You say in your QTOP program you will never drink drive again,” she said.

“Hopefully everyone doesn’t have to drive into a power pole to learn that lesson.”

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Christine Drummond said witnesses to the crash had seen the car speeding towards the corner, before hearing a screech and watching the car slide across the road into a power pole.

Joshua Murphy was almost five times the legal alcohol limit when he crashed into a power pole during a McDonald’s run on New Year’s Day.

Murphy’s lawyer Allanah Patron, of Brooke Winter Solicitors, said Murphy was extremely remorseful.

“Friends actually came over to celebrate (the New Year) with him,” she said.

“At about 6am they told him they were hungry.”

The court was told it was then Murphy made the decision to get into the car for a McDonald’s run.

Ms Patron said Murphy had since completed QTOP, a program aimed to educate about the dangers of drink driving.

In notes Murphy made during the program he said he would never get behind the wheel drunk again.

She said at the time of the crash Murphy was unemployed due to a knee injury.

The court was told he had since started work as a chef at a five-star restaurant in Surfers Paradise.

Originally published as Gold Coast chef almost five-times the limit when he crashed his car on a Macca’s run