It's official: Our drunkest driver ever

A Northland man driving at nearly six times  the legal blood-alcohol limit was so drunk he needed to hold on to the walls of the police station to stop himself falling over.
When Peter Charles Bootes made it to the breath-testing machine in a room at the Whangarei Police Station, his breath-alcohol level exceeded the maximum level the machine was able to record.
It displayed a message: "Exceeds maximum range." A blood sample was then taken.
An experienced Whangarei police officer said that in his 26 years on the beat he had never seen someone with such a high breath-alcohol level.
He said it was a wonder Bootes was not suffering from alcohol poisoning.
The extremely high level earns Bootes the title of the most intoxicated driver nabbed on Northland's roads.
He also makes it on to New Zealand's top 10 list of drunk drivers.
Appearing in the Whangarei District Court yesterday, Bootes, 52, marine fabricator, of Ngunguru, pleaded guilty to driving with an excess blood-alcohol level on March 17. 
He was remanded until September, when he will be sentenced.
A police summary  said Bootes was spotted by police driving  at about 40km/h in a 100km/h zone about 6.15pm.
As he drove into a left-hand bend, heading towards Whangarei, Bootes swerved violently to the left to avoid crossing the centre-line  into oncoming traffic.
He was stopped on Ngunguru Rd and police officers noticed signs  he had been drinking.
Officers took him to the police station where he had trouble walking in a straight line and had to hold on to the walls to stay upright.
His speech was slurred and he had trouble understanding simple instructions.
Breath testing procedures were started but because Bootes' alcohol level exceeded the machine's top limit of 2000 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath, a blood sample had to be taken instead.
Tests results showed he had a blood-alcohol level of 458 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood - the legal limit for motorists aged 20 and above is 80mg per 100ml.
Environmental Science and Research confirmed it was the highest reading they had done for a Northland driver and it was among the top 10 highest drink-driving levels  in New Zealand since records began.
The highest level was from a Dunedin woman in 2004, with 585mg  of alcohol per 100ml  of blood.
Road policing Senior Sergeant Steve Dickson said police considered even 1000mcg of alcohol in breath a high level.

 "It's extremely dangerous to have had this amount of alcohol and then be driving. Reaction times will be very slow, if existent at all," Mr Dickson said.