Tot saved as dad flakes

KELLY MAKIHA and ABIGAIL CASPARI | 27th March 2007

* Dad passes out drunk at gas station at 9am * Staff find 2-year-old girl in car * Police say man was 4x the limit * It took the man 40 minutes to wake up



A TWO-YEAR-OLD was rescued from a car after her drunk father passed out at a Rotorua service station while filling the vehicle.

Police allege the man had driven the car to the Mobil service station on the corner of Old Taupo and Sunset Rds about 9am on Sunday. He was breath-tested after he woke up after about 40 minutes.

The man, from Auckland, was charged with drink-driving with an alcohol reading of 1729mcg per litre of breath. The limit for drivers aged 20 and over is 400mcg.

Police were unsure how far he had travelled but were grateful service station staff rescued the girl after the man passed out on the gas station's forecourt.

Senior Sergeant Ed Van Den Broek said the 30-year-old man had paid for his gas with his eftpos card - taking several attempts to get right - and went back outside.

"As he was pumping the petrol he slumped over the boot and to the ground where he fell asleep," Mr Van Den Broek said.

Service station staff, who had already called police, took the little girl out of the car.

"Policed towed his car ... and took the little girl to her mother's house in Rotorua."

Mr Van Den Broek said it took 40 minutes for the man to wake up.



The man's alleged alcohol reading is believed to be one of the highest recorded in New Zealand.

Rotorua bushman Francis George Moore, who was convicted in July 1998 with a reading of 1714mcg per litre of breath, was thought to be one of the highest.

However, a Hawke's Bay man who recorded 2111mcg several years ago is understood to be the worst.

Dr Stuart Dickson from Environmental Science and Research told the Daily Post records were not kept of the highest reading but he estimated the weekend's case could be in the top few per cent.

Dr Dickson said high alcohol levels bordered on life-threatening as the person could die from choking on their vomit or from "respiratory depression".

"That's where their [respiration] is depressed so far, their body just closes down and they stop breathing."

Mr Van Den Broek said the police's TAG team (Traffic Alcohol Group) worked in Rotorua over the weekend and arrested 25 alleged drunk drivers over three nights.

"It's just so disappointing. You feel like you're beating your head against a brick wall."

Latest figures show 21 per cent of all crashes in Rotorua involve a drunk driver.

The figure makes Rotorua one of the worst areas in the country for alcohol-related crashes.

The 30-year-old Auckland labourer appeared in the Rotorua District Court yesterday on a charge of drunk driving. He also faces a charge of driving while disqualified. He has not entered pleas to the charges and was due to appear in court again today.