Binge session leads to year ban

THE irony was not lost on those in Toowoomba Magistrates Court when a teenager with the surname Binge pleaded guilty to driving with a breath/alcohol limit three times the legal limit.

Bradley Robert Binge had been at a cousin’s 30th birthday party in Warwick on July 15 when all had been drinking, the court heard.

Being a family party, it could be inferred there was quite a bit of Binge drinking.

The 18-year-old’s solicitor Peter Sloane told the court his client was considered the most sober there and his uncles had urged him to drive them.

“He told them they shouldn’t be driving but they were all older than him and so he drove,” Mr Sloane said.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Julia Wheaton said the car the teenager was driving was pulled over on Percy St, Warwick, about 3.30am.

Checks found Binge had never held a driver’s licence and he blew a breath/alcohol reading of 0.15, she said.

Binge was picked up on a warrant Friday night and spent the night in the Toowoomba watch house before appearing before the Saturday morning court call-over.

Magistrate Catherine Pirie said she was concerned at the level of drinking among the group.

“You were the soberest one there?” she asked the prisoner.

“My goodness, what were they?”

Noting the teenager had no history for such offending, Ms Pirie ordered the convictions not be recorded but fined him $1000 and disqualified him from driving for 12 months.