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Truck driver learns fate after blowing 0.311 per cent near Dreamworld

drink driving

The truck driver who blew 0.311 per cent after being found on the ground near his truck with an empty bottle of liquor has been sentenced in the Southport Magistrates Court.

Gurjeet Singh Gill pleaded guilty to one count each of being in charge of a vehicle while under the influence of liquor and obstructing police.

He was fined $600, ordered to complete 40 hours of community service, and disqualified from driving for six months. No criminal conviction was recorded.

Speaking to the media outside the courthouse after his sentencing, Gill told reporters he thought his punishment was fair and what he deserved for a mistake that had seen him quit drinking.

The court was told police found the 44-year-old rolling in the grass beside his running truck on Dreamworld Parkway, Coomera just after 10am on December 12.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Greg McKenzie said officers spotted an empty 750ml bottle of Wild Turkey bourbon on the ground nearby, matching it to a lid and distinct smell of liquor inside the cab of the truck.

He allegedly refused to comply with police direction to submit for a roadside breath test and attempted to flee back into the truck.

Police arrested the man at the scene and transported him to Southport Watchhouse, where he aprovided a specimen of breath indicating 0.311 blood alcohol content. The limit for open licence holders in Queensland is 0.05 and zero for truck drivers.

The court was told the father-of-two had a history of depression and turned to alcohol to cope with his own father’s death two months prior.

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