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A judge has labelled Hastings as the worst city in the country for drunk drivers.
After a day in which he put four people behind bars for drunk driving, visiting Hastings District Court Judge Thomas Everitt said the city had the "worst drink drivers I have come across", Hawke's Bay Today reported.
The judge said he had travelled all over the country but had never come across such bad drink drivers as those he dealt with in the Hastings court.
Among those the judge sentenced to prison was a man who attempted to run two cyclists off the road simply because they had "pissed him off".
He returned a reading of 1221 micrograms per litre of breath - more than three times the legal limit of 400mcgs per litre.
Four months later he returned a level of 923 mcgs when he was stopped.
The others jailed included a 49-year-old man who was found tailgating a vehicle and weaving on State Highway 50A at 9am with an alcohol level of 826 mcgs, a 39-year-old man who was facing his sixth drink-driving offence, and a 45-year-old man who returned a level of 1009mcgs while driving with a disqualified licence.
- NZPA