Trucker caught getting high on long haul drive

The owner of a transport company had meth in his system and smoked two cannabis joints at the wheel of his faulty and unauthorised truck during a long-haul trip.

Benjamin Mikkelson yesterday appeared in Christchurch District Court for sentencing on 11 charges in relation to his drug use and standard of vehicles.

At the hearing, Mikkelson, the owner of That Transport Company, made an unsuccessful bid to keep his licence so he could continue working.

According to the summary of facts, Mikkelson was driving a Nissan Condor truck from Dunedin to Invercargill on November 11 last year, laden with building materials for a client.

On his way, the 34-year-old was stopped by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Team that discovered several faults with the vehicle, an expired Certificate of Fitness and the wrong transport licence.

Mikkelson was issued with a notice forbidding him to operate an unlicensed transport service and ordered to hand over his logbook to police. During the interaction, officers noticed the truckie’s behaviour was unusual. He admitted to smoking two joints while driving from Christchurch to Dunedin.

A compulsory impairment test was carried out which Mikkelson failed and a blood test returned positive results for methamphetamine and cannabis.

As a result, he was forbidden to drive for 12 hours. However, only six hours later Mikkelson got back into his truck - without any repairs or required licences - and completed the drive to Invercargill.

Judge Quentin Hix sentenced him to six months’ community detention and 12 months of intensive supervision. A six month disqualification on all licences was imposed and an 18 month disqualification on class 2 to 5 vehicles.