Edward McDougall was convicted and fined $500, disqualified from driving for six months and ordered to install a mandatory interlock on his car by Magistrate Dare over the incident.

His solicitor Ms Cook said McDougall the loss of his licence would impact his ability to get from Harden to Cootamundra where he works. She also said that her client was deeply remorseful and regretted the incident.

Ms Cook asked that leniency be placed and matters taken into condition as her client travels for work and is undergoing cancer treatment to which Magistrate Dare agreed before he convicted and fined McDougall.

Around 11 pm on December 25 McDougall was driving on Henry Parkes Way near Parkes being followed by an on duty ambulance. The ambulance officers became concerned with the erratic driving of the vehicle and stated the vehicle was occupying both the eastbound and westbound lanes, almost colliding head on with several oncoming vehicles.

Ambulance officers alerted police before they activated emergency lights and sirens to pull the utility over to the side of the road to prevent any further danger.

Police arrived a short time later and subjected McDougall to a roadside breath test that returned a positive reading. McDougall was placed under arrest for the purpose of a breath analysis at Parkes Police Station. The subsequent breath analysis returned a reading of 0.165.​