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A motorist told last night how he snatched the ignition keys from a woman's car after she was seen weaving along a busy road, narrowly missing other vehicles and oblivious to the car horns being sounded by other alarmed drivers.
Bob Pennell has been praised by police for halting the 27-year-old, who later recorded one of the highest breath-alcohol readings police have seen. "She blew 1943 mcg. That's huge, that's comatose," Mr Pennell told the Herald.
"She didn't smell of beer or anything like that. I think it was vodka, but it just blew me away. How she ever got so far was amazing."
The West Auckland man and his wife were driving along Tamaki Drive near Mission Bay at twilight on Friday when they saw the woman's black Renault nearly sideswipe a bus.
"I said, 'Bloody hell that was close', and I mean amazingly close ... I was expecting to see the whole side of her car gone, but she went back to the middle lane and went straight across in front of us."
Mr Pennell, 57, said he then watched in horror as the woman continued on towards Mission Bay, swerving all over the road and oblivious to other motorists who were sounding their horns and trying to avoid her.
The woman is believed to have been going to Hamilton to meet her Alcoholics Anonymous adviser when Mr Pennell stopped her.
"As we came around to where they are doing the new marina for the boats on the lefthand side she started to wander right across the middle of the road and I said, 'This is not good'. That's when I rang the police. I said, 'This is a big accident waiting to happen'."
Just before the carpark at Mission Bay the woman stopped and Mr Pennell, who was still talking to the police operator, decided to act.
As he approached the car, the woman was trying to put it back in gear to pull out into the traffic again.
"I walked across to the car and she was flopping and flailing all over the dash - I thought she might have been a diabetic because her arms were flailing around and her head was flopping."
Following the police operator's instructions, Mr Pennell reached in and pulled the keys from the ignition.
"I said to the girl, 'You can't drive any more - you are not well, or very drunk'.
"But she couldn't even talk, she couldn't even sit in the seat straight. I have never seen a person so drunk in my life."
When police arrived, the woman was slumped across the steering wheel, asleep.
Police have said Mr Pennell's actions potentially saved lives.
Strategic traffic unit sergeant David Best said the woman blew 1943mcg of alcohol a litre of breath, something he had never seen before in his 21 years in the police.
He said the woman, who was unemployed, couldn't speak clearly, but indicated she had come from the North Shore and was trying to get to Hamilton to see her AA adviser.
She was released into the care of friends and received a summons to appear in court on drink-driving charges.
* A nationwide drink-driving blitz on Friday night caught more than 300 people, including a 14-year-old boy, driving over the limit.
