Gaol for ‘personal best’ PCA reading

A WOMAN became visibly excited and told police “That’s my highest score yet” when informed she had failed a breath and would be charged with high-range drink driving, a court has heard.

That “highest score” – a reading of .196 – was the woman’s third drink-driving conviction.

Tammie Lee Gill, of Orange, was gaoled for 10 months when she appeared yesterday (Thursday) in Lithgow Local Court.

Police patrolling the Great Western Highway at South Bowenfels, near Lithgow, around 1:15am on June 29 heard loud scraping noises coming from beneath a white Holden Statesman travelling in the eastbound lanes.

They stopped the vehicle and submitted the driver to a random breath test.

When told she had

“Police were at a loss to explain how such action should cause excitement,” the court heard.

Gill was unsteady on her feet and had to be assisted by police; she said she could not remember where or what she had been drinking.

And she told police she had been attempting to drive home to Orange although she was arrested when travelling towards Sydney.

Gill was gaoled for 10 months with a non-parole period of seven months and disqualified from driving for five years.

She has lodged an appeal on the grounds of severity and allowed conditional bail pending a hearing.