Banned for 21 months
Driver was four times over alcohol limit
A DRINK-driver caught more than four times over the legal limit told police he thought he was fine to drive.
Anakie man Simon Gaskill, 46, had been drinking heavily at a party in Geelong on August 18, 2017, before deciding to drive more than three hours to Horsham.
Gaskill was stopped by police in Horsham more than 10 hours later — and after more drinking — when he returned a blood-alcohol reading of 0.21.
Gaskill later told police he drank up to six glasses of cask wine after arriving in Horsham and didn’t think he would be over the alcohol limit.
Defence lawyer Simon O’Halloran told Geelong Magistrates’ Court yesterday Gaskill had struggled with alcohol issues for the past six years.
“He accepts he’s done the wrong thing,” Mr O’Halloran said.
“In hindsight, with that sort of reading, he would’ve definitely realised he was over the limit.”
The court heard Gaskill had been unemployed since August after being made redundant from his job as a cleaner.
Magistrate Peter Mellas fined Gaskill $400 and banned him from driving for 21 months.
“I think you’d appreciate you placed everybody, including yourself, in danger that day,” Mr Mellas said.
Gaskill narrowly avoided a mandatory double penalty given a previous drink-driving offence on his record happened more than 10 years ago.