Frank Micky Quartermaine fined nearly $3k for driving under the influence and destroying property

A South Bunbury man who blew a blood alcohol level of 0.187 has been fined nearly $3000 after he drove into a utility pole. Frank Micky Quartermaine, 30, appeared in Bunbury Magistrates Court on December 6 facing charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and being the driver of a vehicle involved in which property was damaged ,and failing to report to police. Just after midnight on September 19, Quartermaine crashed his mother’s car into a Western Power utility pole on Minningip Road in South Bunbury. The accident caused major damage to the pole and another one attached to it by power lines, causing them both to slope over the street. Both utility poles were required to be replaced, and the vehicle was written off for damages. A witness to the incident called emergency services. However, the 30-year-old Quartermaine told the witness he would not wait for police, and left the scene. Police later found Quartermaine at his home in South Bunbury, where he blew a blood alcohol reading of 0.187. The court heard the man had significant issues with alcohol which had been influenced by complications in his family life. Quartermaine had not been convicted of a drink-driving offence since 2012, and had been participating in drug and alcohol counselling at the South West Aboriginal Medical Service. Magistrate Belinda Coleman Quartermaine he was “very lucky” he did not kill himself or anyone else, and he would soon receive “a significant bill from Western Power” alongside his fines. The man was fined more than $2900 and received a 30-month license disqualification.