After drinking red wine, a woman had her three sons in her car when she drove to a pizza shop, mounting the kerb as she tried to park in a 'no stopping' zone.
When the 41-year-old was spotted by police officers, she told them: "I just needed to run in to get the pizza".
The divorced disability worker pleaded guilty in Sydney's Sutherland Local Court to mid-range drink driving last month after a reading of 0.122.
On Thursday, magistrate Glenn Walsh disqualified her from driving for 12 months and fined her $600, saying: "at her age, she should have known better".
At about two-and-a-half times over the legal limit, she was a potential risk not only to other road users but to her "valuable passengers" - twin sons aged 13 and a third boy aged eight.
But he also found she had powerful subjective factors including never having been before the courts before, her community work and her mental health.
She consumed red wine, not having intended to drive that day after arranging for her father to collect the boys so she could go to work early the next day.
But when the father rang to say he couldn't get them, she got behind the wheel to take her sons there via the pizza shop.
"Hasn't one heard of home delivery?," the magistrate asked, also pointing out she could have made other arrangements for the boys.
He said campaigns had been running since 1980 about the dangers of drink driving.
"There is even a television show that demonstrates the folly of those who drive and drink and, still, the message does not seem to be getting through."
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