Drunk driver pinged on a motorised picnic table

  • 06/04/2017
The troublesome vehicle has since been sold (Wadebovey/ Instagram) mosgiel dunedin drink driving
The troublesome vehicle has since been sold (Wadebovey/ Instagram)

A Mosgiel man has taken his drink driving conviction on the chin after being caught using an unusual vehicle - a motorised picnic table.

Wade Bryce Bovey, 21, appeared in the Dunedin District Court on Tuesday where he received a pretty standard punishment for a pretty peculiar situation.

On January 27, Bovey and a friend were spotted by a police car pushing the vehicle up Queen St to his home, the Otago Daily Times reports.

The 398cc engine wasn't powerful enough to get the wooden table, complete with cup holders, up the hill.

Perhaps optimistically, Bovey thought police would help him out - but instead they breathalysed him.

They didn't have to go far to look for evidence either.

"There was a box of [beer] sitting on [the table]," Bovey told the ODT.

He was found have a breath alcohol level of 678mcg per litre of breath. The legal limit is 400mcg.

Bovey's lawyer says his client hadn't drunk alcohol since the incident and had distanced himself from "the type of people involved in operating motorised picnic tables while under the influence of alcohol".

Outside court, Bovey said he'd since sold the troublesome vehicle for "an undisclosed amount" to a group of people in Gore. He said it sold for more than it was worth.

He'd got the powered picnic table from a man in Christchurch and admits it was a "bad idea" from the start.

"I've had my fun, got in trouble, sold it," he told the ODT.

Bovey was fined $750 and banned from driving for six months.

Newshub.