A driver was banned from the roads for 18 months and fined a total of $3,000 after he was found asleep at the wheel after the Covid-19 curfew.

Khalil Burchall, 36, pleaded guilty in Magistrates’ Court to drink driving and a breach of the earlier midnight to 5am curfew.

The court heard that police found a car with its engine running parked on South Road in Warwick around 1.45am on March 11.

Officers saw the car roll forward about 30ft and crash into a bus stop after they pulled up at the vehicle.

They found a man asleep in the driver’s seat and officers turned the ignition off through the open window.

Officers woke Burchall and he admitted that he had had “a couple of drinks”.

He was arrested and taken to Hamilton Police Station for a breath test.

Burchall was found to have164.2 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood - more than double the legal limit of 80mg/100ml.

Burchall, from Paget, apologised to the court and said that he attempted to drive home after drinking but later decided to sleep it off.

He added: “I thought I was doing the responsible thing by pulling over and sleeping it off.

“I’m a law-abiding citizen - I don’t have any speeding tickets or anything.”

But magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo said that it was “still an offence”.

He fined Burchall $1,000 for drink driving and $2,000 for the curfew breach.

He ordered him to pay the fines by June 30.

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