Real estate agent convicted again

Hawke's Bay real estate agent Terry Coxon has been convicted for his third drink-driving charge.

His BMW was stopped by a police checkpoint on Napier Rd in Havelock North on December 17 last year where his blood alcohol was more than one-and-a-half times the legal limit at 124mg. The legal adult blood limit is 80mg.

Mr Coxon's first drink-driving offence was in 1996 and his second in 2005.

Coxon recently sold his Wine Country Real Estate company to Tremains. He was elected to Hastings City Council in 1986 and then on the newly-formed district council in 1989. He gave up office in 1995.

He has been the Hawke's Bay district president for the Real Estate Institute, chairman of the New Zealand Institute of Valuers Hawke's Bay branch and is a Justice of the Peace.

There had been moves to defend the case in Whanganui District Court but at Hastings District Court on Tuesday Coxon changed his plea to guilty.

Judge Bridget Mackintosh said Coxon was unsuitable for community service at the age of 71, so would be dealt a substantial fine.

"If there is any more drink-driving we will be looking at an electronically-monitored sentence."

He was fined $1200 plus $305 for costs and reparations, and disqualified from driving for one year and one day.