Joel David Harper caught three times sleeping in his van while under the influence

The 38-year-old chose to live in his wagon but three times he was caught over the limit while “in charge” of the vehicle. Find what the court did:

Choosing to sleep in his van proved costly for a 38-year-old man caught three times asleep in the driver’s seat with a breath alcohol reading way above the legal limit.

Police found Joel David Harper asleep in his wagon which had the engine running parked at the side of Gatton-Laidley Road at Lawes about 3am, April 17, and noticed a cask of wine beside him.

Harper told police he decided to sleep there rather than drive back to Toowoomba and had been drinking from the cask, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

He blew a breath/alcohol reading of 0.254 and was charged with being in charge of a vehicle while under the influence of liquor.

Police prosecutor Julia Wheaton told the court Harper was found by a police patrol asleep in his van with the keys in his pocket in the Dan Murphys car park on James St, Toowoomba, about 3.20am, July 2.

Telling police he had no intention of driving, this time the 38-year-old blew 0.203.

Sergeant Wheaton said CCTV from the hotel’s car park cameras showed Harper driving into the car park earlier when his driver’s licence had been suspended after the earlier offence.

Joel David Harper appeared in Toowoomba Magistrates Court on September 7, 2022.

Then, on July 30, police had again come across Harper in the driver seat of his van with the keys in the ignition near the corner of John and Herries Sts, Toowoomba, about 4.40pm, she said.

Telling police he had been drinking from a cask of wine and intended walking to town, he blew a breath/alcohol reading of 0.235.

Harper pleaded guilty to three counts of being in charge of a vehicle while under the influence of liquor, driving without a licence suspended under S79B, unlicensed driving and contravening a police direction.

Duty solicitor Nikola Prince told the court Harper had been living in his van by choice and had lived on the Sunshine Coast for seven years before moving to Toowoomba for work as a chef.

Her client was staying in a hotel at the moment but had arranged an agent to look for more appropriate accommodation, she said.

Magistrate Gary Finger sentenced Harper to three months in jail but ordered the whole term be suspended for 18 months, placed him on 18 months probation, fined him $300 and disqualified him from driving for various terms from three months to two years.