Drunk driver steals pub’s courtesy van for erratic ride home

Monday, 27 July 2026

A 24-year-old man is accused of taking a courtesy van belonging to The Crescent Bar and Grill in Kaitangata for an erratic ride home while the regular driver was inside the establishment.

Police were called at 9.45pm on Saturday after a resident spotted the vehicle driving erratically and scraping against a council fence.

Officers found the missing courtesy coach parked in a residential driveway 1.7km away from the pub.

The driver admitted to being behind the wheel and recorded a breath alcohol reading of 999 mcg per litre (the legal limit is 250 mcg). He was summonsed to court and issued a 28-day driving suspension.

A drunk driver, who was almost four times the limit, took a local pub’s courtesy coach for an erratic ride home, police say.

A resident of the small South Otago township of Kaitangata called police after spotting the courtesy van, owned by The Crescent Bar and Grill, at 9.45pm on Saturday.

That call raised concern that the van was “driving erratically … and scraped across a council fence,” Senior Sergeant Iain Notman said.

The same witness spoke to the driver, Notman said, who appeared to be highly intoxicated.

Police made inquiries with local bar staff, who advised officers that the regular driver was “inside the establishment and the coach should be parked outside”.

But “it wasn’t,” Notman said.

The courtesy coach was located in the driveway of a town resident, some 1.7km from the pub.

A 24-year-old man at that property admitted to being the driver, Notman said, and recorded a breath alcohol reading of 999 micrograms (mcg) of alcohol per litre of breath, almost four times the legal limit of 250 mcg.

The man was summonsed to appear in court on a charge of drink driving, with more charges likely. He was also suspended for driving for 28 days.

As for the van, it was returned to the bar.