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Alcohol-impaired man was asleep in car when Police arrived

A Paget man was banned from driving all vehicles for 12 months after Police found him asleep in a parked car, smelling of alcohol.

Cordell Burchall, 34, pleaded guilty in Magistrates' Court yesterday to having care and control of a vehicle while impaired by alcohol.

According to Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Michael McColm, Police on patrol in the early hours of September 13 saw a car parked in the eastbound lane of South Road in Devonshire.

Officers approached the vehicle and noticed that Burchall was sleeping in the car with the driver's door open.

The officers woke him up and, smelling alcohol, asked him where the vehicle's keys were. He told the officers that his driver had the keys, but the officers saw the keys on the floor of the car.

A breath test found Burchall to have 174 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, more than double the legal limit of 80 milligrams.

In court, Burchall said that he didn't drive the car: "There was a girl who was driving the car, but we got into an argument and she got out."

Magistrate Justin Williams asked Burchall: "So you thought the best thing to do was fall asleep?"

Burchall said that he had called a friend, but that the Police arrived before the friend did.

After pleading guilty to having care and control of the vehicle while impaired, Burchall was fined $1,000 and banned from driving all vehicles for one year, along with receiving ten demerit points.