Emily Anne McEachran faced Toowoomba Magistrates Court after blowing almost four times the legal limit

Following a night of drinking beer and vodka with friends, a 24-year-old caught behind the wheel nearly four times the legal limit has told a court she had no memory of driving.

A Toowoomba woman was so drunk while driving on a CBD street that she had no recollection of being behind the wheel, her solicitor told the city’s Magistrates Court.

Emily Anne McEachran came to patrolling police attention when she had trouble changing gears and was swerving her vehicle as she drove on Margaret Street about midnight December 4, the court was told on Tuesday.

Pulled over by police, the 24-year-old told officers she had been drinking beer and vodka with friends at a nearby hotel but couldn’t say how many she’d had, police prosecutor Rohan Brewster-Webb told the court.

Emily Anne McEachran pleaded guilty in Toowoomba Magistrates Court on December 20, 2022, to a high-range drink-driving offence.

Taken to the nearby police station, McEachran blew a breath/alcohol reading of 0.196, he said.

McEachran pleaded guilty to driving while under the influence of liquor.

Her solicitor Jack Marshall, of Donnelly Law Group, told the court his client had been under stress due to her father being diagnosed with a terminal illness and her partner being a FIFO worker who was not always home to support her.

McEachran and her partner were relocating to the Sunshine Coast this week so she could be closer to her father, Mr Marshall said.

While his client accepted it was an exceptionally stupid decision to drive, she had no recollection of driving at the time, Mr Marshall submitted.

Magistrate Kay Philipson said she accepted the offence was out of character for McEachran who had no previous for such offending and that she was under stress.

Acknowledging she had done the Queensland Traffic Offenders Program from which she had gained insight into her offending that night, Ms Philipson ordered the conviction not be recorded, fining McEachran $750 and disqualifying her from driving for six months.