Drunk again, still no licence
Repeat offender crashed car in 2013
A NEW engaging learning space will give all Ashby Primary School pupils the opportunity to achieve their best.
A new sensory space, playground, garden and outdoor classroom will be funded under a $200,000 State Government inclusive school funding grant.
School principal Meg Bone said teachers had spent almost three years persisting with the extensive application process to ensure students of all abilities had access to the best facilities to suit their learning style.
The school’s application was not granted in the first two grant allocation rounds.
“We were overjoyed with the announcement that we have secured the funds in round three to create an amazing sensory playground for the students and families here at Ashby,” Ms Bone said. “Our dream is to develop a state-of-the-art outdoor sensory and re-engagement space, which includes a playground, kitchen garden and outdoor classroom.”
The proposed works include zoned spaces for sensory play, meditation and quiet space, kitchen garden, outdoor classroom and cubbyhouse, as well as an artificial turf area including lined games and a sensory playground.
Geelong MP Christine Couzens said the vital changes would ensure the school grounds were inclusive for all families.
“No one should struggle to get into their school and we are getting on with the job of making sure Ashby Primary School is accessible for all local students,” Ms Couzens said. “I encourage all schools to re-imagine their surroundings and come up with creative ideas about how they can be made accessible to everyone.” A FATHER of three was caught drink-driving without a licence on a busy Grovedale road less than three years after crashing his car nearby with a belly full of booze.
Alex Velkoski, 44, drank half a bottle of vodka in just 45 minutes before driving on Torquay Rd on April 4 last year, Geelong Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday.
Police saw him driving so erratically he was hitting gutters when they pulled him over about 7pm and found he was slurring his words, and had never had a driver’s licence.
He told them he was driving to the Aldi supermarket to get dinner, and recorded a breath test reading of 0.172.
Although high, that reading paled in comparison to the 0.256 blood alcohol content the man recorded after a car crash on August 28, 2013.
The court heard his blood was taken in hospital that night after he was hospitalised in a serious car crash.
The crash happened on Peter St, after an oncoming driver stopped his Jeep Wrangler because Velkoski’s Hyundai was motoring erratically towards him.
Despite the other driver’s effort to avoid a crash, Velkoski ploughed head-on into his car, pushing it backwards 5m into a parked car.
The drunk driver’s car spun and stopped 15m away on the footpath, where he was found unresponsive behind the wheel.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Peter Beard said Velkoski was not wearing a seatbelt and hit his head on the windscreen in the crash.
Police kept his airways open until paramedics arrived, and firefighters also attended to cut the man out of his destroyed car.
“You didn’t even have a licence, so you weren’t even entitled to be driving the car, let alone with a reading of 0.256,” magistrate Michael Coghlan observed yesterday.
Velkoski pleaded guilty yesterday to multiple driving charges from both drink-driving offences, including a count of reckless conduct endangering serious injury from the crash.
Mr Coghlan said the unemployed man was close to getting a jail term, but heard he was already undertaking alcohol counselling and had been off booze for six months.
The magistrate decided to put the defendant on a community corrections order, ruling he complete 120 hours of unpaid community work. He also banned him from getting a licence for the next four years.