Nathan Madden: JJ’s Bakery boss gets third drink driving conviction

The boss of a popular string of Tasmanian bakeries has fronted court for blowing over after a boozy function. It is his third drink driving conviction, although his first in more than two decades.

JJ's Bakery, which has four locations across Launceston and the Northern Midlands, owner Nathan Leigh Madden, 42, convicted a third time of drink driving. Picture: Facebook

A morning-after “miscalculation” has seen the boss of a popular string of northern Tasmanian bakeries blow more than one-and-a-half times the legal blood-alcohol limit, his third conviction for drink driving, although his first in more than two decades.

Longford man Nathan Leigh Madden, 42, fronted Launceston Magistrates Court on Monday where he pleaded guilty to a charge of driving while exceeding the prescribed alcohol limit.

Magistrate Ken Stanton fined him $900, ordered he pay $100.10 in costs and levies, and disqualified him from driving for seven months, postdated 42 days to enable Madden to apply for a restricted driver’s licence.

The offence was detected about 8.45am December 15 last year as Madden travelled on Illawarra Rd, Longford. Madden was pulled over for a random breath test and returned a reading of 0.076 per cent blood-alcohol content.

Defence lawyer Grant Tucker told the court his client had been to a function the night prior and stopped drinking about 11 hours prior to getting behind the wheel.

Mr Tucker said it was a “miscalculation” on his client’s behalf and there were “no aggravating features of his driving” in that he was pulled over randomly, not because of the manner of his driving.

“His wife was in the car, if he thought he was over the limit, he would have asked her to drive,” Mr Tucker told the court.

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The court heard Madden had two previous convictions for drink driving, although they were dated, occurring in 1998 and 2000 respectively.

“You were well over the limit but still in the low range for the purposes of sentencing,” Mr Stanton, the magistrate, said.

He said Madden’s reading meant there was a “relatively low risk (to Madden and the road-using public) but the risk exceeded that which was acceptable”.

Mr Stanton said Madden must have consumed a “large amount” of alcohol the night prior in order to register the reading he did 11 hours after he stopped drinking.

“You can't just think you are (under the legal limit),” he said.

Mr Stanton declined to impose the mandatory minimum penalties, as it was Madden’s third offence under the Road Safety (Alcohol and Drugs) Act 1970.

“I accept it’s been 23 years since the last offence,” he said.