Over-limit taxi driver fined, disqualified

At Manukau District Court, Singh was fined $1,000 and stripped of his licence indefinitely. Photo / NZME.

An on-duty taxi driver who blew a reading of more than four times the legal breath-alcohol limit told police he'd had "one Kingfisher beer".

Amandeep Singh, 36, could have faced up to three months in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of exceeding the breath-alcohol limit for a transport service driver.

He was stopped just after 9pm on a Friday in November in the South Auckland suburb of Manurewa. Singh blew a reading of 1,003 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.

Legislation changes, which came into force at the end of last year, mean blowing over 250 sees a driver fined and given demerit points, while a reading of more than 400 automatically puts the driver before the courts.

"He was driving an Auckland Co-op Taxi which had the roof light illuminated saying 'for hire' and his logbook had not been signed off as having finished," court documents said.

"In explanation the defendant stated he had one Kingfisher beer and was heading home."

At Manukau District Court, Singh was fined $1,000 and stripped of his licence indefinitely.

Auckland Co-op Taxis chairman Jacob Patel said public safety was paramount and the incident had prompted the company to take rapid action.

"You can't dismiss anybody without proper rules so very quickly I put it to the board and we made a resolution - anybody convicted will never ever be taken back," he said.

"Anyone caught drinking and driving, whether he has got his permit back or not, he will never ever be able to drive for Co-op."

Singh was not the first driver to be sacked by the company for drink-driving. Mr Patel said he had earlier found out about another couple of drivers who had racked up convictions, and they, too, would never work for the company again.

Once Singh has been disqualified for more than a year, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) will decide whether he is fit to hold a licence again.

In 1999, NZTA set up a system called "Driver Check" which allows employers to be notified when staff members' licences change.

Spokesman Andy Knackstedt said if a taxi driver was charged with a criminal offence police notified the agency which would suspend the defendant's P (passenger) licence, creating an alert in the system.