A Gravelly Beach man walked away from a crash with a parked car on the West Tamar Highway because his mobile phone was flat, the Launceston Magistrates Court heard.
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Adam Rex Gore, 44, changed his plea from not guilty to guilty on Tuesday, on a count of exceeding 0.05 on May 29 last year with a reading of 0.143.
Police prosecutor Natalie Clark tendered no evidence on a count of failing to comply with the duties of a driver involved in a crash, to which Gore had pleaded not guilty.
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Ms Clark told the court that about 2.30am Gore was driving a grey Honda CRV north when he came around a left hand corner and ran into a parked car outside West Tamar Highway.
She said the impact shunted the parked car 20 metres onto the grass verge causing significant damage.
She said Gore walked to the BP service station and made a phone call.
"Police attended the service station and he was taken to the Launceston General Hospital for assessment where blood was collected for analysis," she said.
Gore had a prior conviction for drink driving in about 2002 with a reading of 0.119.
Defence counsel Greg Richardson said Gore was the general manager of the Tamar Valley Wine Centre and an army reservist.
Mr Richardson said the mobile phone battery on the phone was flat so he walked to the service station and they called triple zero.
"He co-operated with police and made admissions to being the driver ," he said.
"He has already suffered significant loss of $14,500 between the two vehicles, which was not covered by insurance."
He sought a seven-week adjournment so that Gore could apply for a restricted licence.
In sentencing Magistrate Ken Stanton said there had been no legitimate explanation for Gore driving a motor vehicle with the reading he recorded.
"This is a reading that is approaching three times the legal limit and the higher the reading the higher the risk and that was demonstrated on this occasion," Mr Stanton said.
"This disqualification will have a significant effect on you and your employment."
He said it was not an early plea and was only entered on the day of the hearing once the other charge on the complaint was dismissed.
Mr Stanton fined Gore $1800 and disqualified him from driving for 12 months - the minimum time under the legislation.
Gore was a Labor Party candidate at the 2018 state election in the seat of Bass.
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