A matter transferred to Tamworth
In this Tamworth drink driving case study, Boorman Lawyers appeared at Tamworth Local Court, in the country music capital of Australia. The client, a 21-year-old agriculture student, was charged with a middle range drink driving offence with a reading of 0.116. The offence happened in Wagga Wagga.
He contacted Boorman Lawyers early, desperate to avoid a criminal conviction and the mandatory alcohol interlock program. Joshua Boorman explained the law, what to expect, how best to prepare and the likely outcomes.
Getting the matter closer to work
The client did not live in Wagga Wagga; he was only visiting for an agricultural ball. He was working on a farm at Spring Ridge, about an hour to an hour and a quarter from Tamworth. An early guilty plea was entered at Wagga Wagga Local Court and the matter was adjourned and transferred to Tamworth, the closest major court to where he was working.
The strategy included a lengthy adjournment. He had been suspended from the time of the offence, so by the sentence date he had been off the road for three and a half months. Josh told the court the client was not asking to escape all penalties, as he had already been punished by that time off the road.
Managing expectations
Josh explains that he told the client a no-conviction outcome for a reading of 0.116, well into the middle range, would be unlikely and extremely difficult to achieve. In his view, though, a person has to prepare properly and ask for the outcome they want, or the court will not consider it. The client was happy to proceed on that basis.
What happened
The client and his girlfriend attended a black-tie agricultural ball in Wagga Wagga and drank quite a lot. His last drink was at about midnight. A couple of hours after returning to their hotel, they were hungry, and he drove a short distance to a service station for late-night snacks.
Police said his headlights were not properly on, which gave them a reason to stop him. The final reading at the police station was 0.116. He was shocked, remorseful and cooperative. He held a licence from another state and had a very clean record, with one minor speeding infringement three years earlier and no criminal history.
The case put to the court in this Tamworth drink driving case study
The material included the Traffic Offenders Program certificate and reflection, a reference from his college principal with his strong academic transcript, a reference from his grandfather, and a strong letter of apology.
The prosecutor argued strongly against a no-conviction order, pointing to the reading and the headlights. The other key factor was his farm work placement: his boss said that if he was subject to a 12-month interlock order he would lose the placement, because the farm would not fit interlocks to every vehicle used by its 14 other staff. Losing it would set his studies back by about a year.
The outcome
The magistrate weighed general deterrence against his youth, good character, remorse and the effect on his placement, and only just came down on his side. He received a conditional release order for 12 months without conviction, so no interlock order was made.
Key general information (NSW)
General information only, not legal advice, as at October 2026. Every case turns on its own facts.
- Drink driving (PCA) offences: In New South Wales most drink driving charges are “prescribed concentration of alcohol” (PCA) offences under the Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW).
- The broad penalty picture: As one example, Transport for NSW lists the maximum court-imposed penalty for a first mid range PCA offence as a fine of $2,200 and up to 9 months’ imprisonment (as at October 2026).
- The Alcohol Interlock Program: A zero alcohol limit applies to all interlock drivers, and a person who receives an interlock order but does not enter the program is disqualified for 5 years.
- Conditional release orders: The NSW Sentencing Council explains that a conditional release order (CRO) can be made with or without recording a conviction.
- The court process: Drink and drug driving charges in NSW are usually dealt with in the Local Court.
Further reading and related videos
Boorman Lawyers has more on appearing at Tamworth Local Court, no-conviction outcomes for drink driving in NSW and NSW alcohol interlock laws. Its NSW DUI site covers drink driving matters across regional NSW.
On this site, see a Katoomba mid range case that ended with a CRO and a Sutherland next-day mid range case, or browse all NSW and drink driving videos.
For people who are preparing to plead guilty without a lawyer, DIY DUI’s guide to drink and drug driving charges at Tamworth covers the local court and plea process. (DIY DUI is a self-help program for people preparing their own guilty plea. It is not legal representation and is not part of Boorman Lawyers.)
Read the video transcript
Just uh appeared at the courthouse behind me which is Tamworth Local Court out in the rural area rural Western Country Town of New South Wales the capital of country music in Australia and I don't usually get out here but when um when the call comes through and a client wants me to come out and travel to represent them certainly I can do that to any Courthouse around New South Wales or Queensland for that matter The matter involved a middle range drink driving offence .116 it occurred in Wagga Wagga [unclear] a young 21 year old student who is studying agriculture
He was desperate to be able to avoid a criminal conviction and to avoid the mandatory alcohol interlock program he contacted us early in the piece and wanted some advice and some strategies surrounding how best to handle his matter and we went through and explained everything to do with the law what to expect how to best prepare his case and the likelihood of the outcomes that he could expect before the court so what we did was is uh he engaged us he was happy to engage us we got the matter which was first listed at Wagga Wagga Local Court in the area where the matter had originally occurred we got the matter adjourned
Transferred up to Tamworth Local Court where I am currently at the moment the reason why we did that is because uh he was actually in Wagga Wagga attending a agricultural ball event he doesn't live there he doesn't live anywhere near there he was just visiting the town at the time and um we did want to get the matter transferred up closer to where he's currently working he's working on a farm out at Spring Ridge and um Tamworth is about one hour's drive one hour 15 drive from Spring Ridge
So this was the closest major Court to where he's currently working um we were able to get that [unclear] adjourned we entered an early plea of guilty at Wagga Wagga Court we were able to get the matter adjourned and transferred to Tamworth with no problems our strategy was to get quite a lengthy adjournment because it was put off the road at the time of the offence so his ultimate goal was to avoid a conviction and avoid any interlock order being made
Now as I explained to him this is often an extremely difficult outcome to achieve when the blood alcohol reading is in the mid-range category and certainly his matter was not at the bottom end of the middle range category it was well into it probably in the middle of the middle range category at 0.116. um so very difficult outcome to achieve and I naturally had to explain to our client that this would be uh it would be an unlikely outcome to achieve this
But in the same vein what have you got to lose you've got to prepare a case a proper way you've got to put every uh steps in place do all the right things get all the right material present the case the right way and push hard for the best outcome you can possible because in my view if you don't go in there fighting for it or ask for the particular desired outcome then the court won't consider it
But certainly by way of client expectations and management I did make him aware that for the most part asking for a no conviction for a middle range drink driving offence of 0.116 would be unlikely um but that was fine he was happy to proceed and listen to our strategy so we did get the matter adjourned we got a lengthy adjournment and the matter was here before court today he was suspended at the time of the offence
So as of today he's currently been off the road for three and a half months and this was something that we could tell the court that uh we weren't coming to court today asking for a no conviction and trying to escape all penalties he's actually been put to a level of punishment by already being off the road for three and a half months uh so it was a bit of a sweetener in um uh pushing the court to use their discretion not to record a conviction
I mean the facts surrounding this matter were basically that my client and his girlfriend has mentioned had attended Wagga Wagga for a black tie agricultural ball event they consumed quite a lot of drinks throughout the night now staying at a hotel in Wagga Wagga my client had his last drink at about 12 or midnight and um went back to the hotel after being there for a couple of hours he and his girlfriend were hungry he decided to get into the car drive short distance down to the local service station to get some late night snacks police pulled him over
They mentioned that he was driving without his headlights properly illuminated or activated that gave him them reason to pull him over he pulled over as he was turning into the [unclear: 'caltex police station' in the captions; likely the Caltex service station] he uh was roadside tested it was a positive reading taken back to Wagga Wagga police station and delivered a final blood alcohol concentration reading of 0.116 so very very comfortably in the middle of the middle range category um our client was shocked he was remorseful showed immediate regret
Cooperated with the police so that was the charge he's got a very good record he was on a Western Australian licence but despite that he was suspended from driving in New South Wales from the time that the offence was laid on him at the time of the incident he um uh is from Western Australia has a Western Australian record he's only still relatively young 21 years of age and he has a very clean record he's got one more minor speeding infringement which occurred three years ago
But otherwise no criminal record and no other traffic records so it was able to give us the ammunition to say to the court that this was certainly out of character for him and highly unlikely that it would be repeated again in the future um we got him to do a Traffic Offenders Program we had the completion certificate and the reflection materials attendance of the Court this showed a willingness for him to re-educate himself on driver safety
So that was taken into account we also had um his college tertiary education College principal provide a letter of reference and provided his academic transcript from last year which showed all very good results he's clearly a good young man with a bright future ahead of him who has made this very foolish and silly one-off mistake we got his grandfather to provide a letter of reference and we also helped him put together a very good and strong letter of apology to the court showing very
Uh very good insight into his offending and How Deeply remorseful he was over the entire matter of course the magistrate today was almost torn about what the penalty or result to give our clients certainly the prosecutor got up and was very strong in their submissions to say that the court should not um deal with our client by way of a no conviction because of the reading and because he was brought to the attention of police through his manner of driving without the headlights attached
So that was the um that was so that was the case that we presented before the court today the other thing the big kicker was that he's currently doing a um a work placement on a farm at Spring Ridge and his boss has indicated to him that um if he was subject to uh mandatory interlock order for the next 12 months then he would lose his placement at that job because his boss was not willing to put an interlock device into every vehicle on the farm operated by 14 other staff
As a result he would have lost his um his practical workplace placement at that farm and that would have had significant implications on his studies it would have put him back by about a year so that was certainly another thing taken into account by the court The Balancing Act by the court was to decide whether due to the reading and and how comfortably into the mid-range it was that the court had to send a message of General deterrence to the rest of the public that you just cannot get away with mid-range drink driving or any sort of PCA drink driving offences
But she was also the magistrate was also Torn Between the fact that our client was a young person a very good character was going places but done the Traffic Offenders Program and shown genuine remorse insight into his offending and effects that it would have on his current workplace so she only did magistrate only just fell onto our side and decided not to record a conviction and and [unclear] on a conditional release order which is like a good behaviour bond for a period of 12 months
So I'm very very happy and elated client today and that was the matter we had out here at the lovely Tamworth Local Court and thanks for tuning in today.
General information only, based on New South Wales law at the time of filming. Not legal advice — every case turns on its own facts. Past results don't guarantee future outcomes.
