A Wangaratta man has avoided a jail term after appearing at the Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on Monday on a string of driving offences, including driving while suspended and failing to use a mandated alcohol interlock device.

The accused appeared before Magistrate Lance Martin facing five charges stemming from an incident on 28 October 2025, when he was stopped at a police preliminary breath test site on Roy Street shortly after 6.30pm.

Police told the court the man drove a white Holden ute into the site and produced his licence and details when asked.

Officers conducted a breath test, which returned a reading of 0.041 despite the man being subject to a zero BAC requirement and an order to only drive vehicles fitted with an alcohol interlock system.

The vehicle he was driving did not have an interlock installed.

The court heard the accused told police he had consumed “three schooners of Carlton Dry” before driving, and admitted he “should’ve just gone straight home instead of going to get food for the next day.”

Police also impounded the vehicle for 30 days.

The man said he was unaware his licence had been suspended, explaining he had moved homes 12 months earlier but had “been slack” in notifying VicRoads.

“I really didn’t know I had done the wrong thing,” he told the court.

“I was driving my son’s car at the time because mine had broken down. I honestly didn’t know that my licence was suspended.

“I wouldn’t have been driving if I had known.”

Magistrate Martin said while he accepted the man was unaware of the suspension, the charges were nonetheless serious, particularly given it was the accused’s third drink-driving offence since 2013.

“The maximum fine for these offences is up to $48,000 or two years’ jail,” he said.

“This should give you an idea of how seriously Parliament takes serial drink drivers.”

He added that although a jail term was open to the court, he did not intend to impose one due to the relatively low alcohol reading and the man’s early guilty plea.

The man was convicted and handed a $3000 fine, along with $144 in court costs.

He was also issued a mandatory 12 month driving disqualification.