Troy King: Allan King & Sons project manager guilty of high-range drink driving crash

The son of one of the biggest names in construction in the Northern Territory has taken a steep financial hit after causing a two-car collision while more than four times the legal driving limit.

Howard Springs project manager Troy King, 31. Picture: Facebook

The scion of a prominent Darwin construction family will wear a deep cost after causing a two-vehicle collision while driving more than four times the legal blood-alcohol limit.

Howard Springs man Troy Glyn King, 31, pleaded guilty in Darwin Local Court recently to charges of high-range drink driving and failure to give way at an intersection.

Both offences occurred at the intersection of Girraween and Hillier roads at McMinns Lagoon on the afternoon of August 18, the court heard.

Police were called after King failed to give way at the intersection, causing a two-vehicle collision, in which there were no significant injuries.

Subsequent breath analysis revealed King to be driving more than four times the legal blood-alcohol limit, with the defendant registering a reading of 0.235.

Defence lawyer Peter Maley told the court his client had spent the day in question fishing and drinking beer with a buddy out at Saltwater Arm.

His client had organised a lift home, but once there safely he made the “bad mistake” of getting behind the wheel to pick up a feed from the shops.

Mr Maley said his client, who is a project manager at the family business, prominent Berrimah-based civil construction firm Allan King & Sons, was already wearing the steep financial cost of his lack of driver’s licence.

King was currently being required by his father to pay subcontractors to drive him around the various sites he needed to be at as part of his ordinary responsibilities.

Mr Maley said this amounted to about $800 a week.

The lawyer also submitted his client came to the court with clean hands, having no prior convictions for drink driving.

He further submitted King was also not in the right frame of mind at the time of the offending, owing to his separation from the mother of his four-year-old child.

Judge Alan Woodcock told the court getting behind the wheel with a tank that full was “very dangerous”.

He fined King $100, imposed mandatory levies of $300, and disqualified King from driving for a period of 12 months.