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A 23-year-old Australian man has lost his driving license for 10 months and been fined $500 after being caught driving while drunk on his home-made motorised cooler (known as an ‘esky’ in Australia).

Chris Petrie was driving the esky at around midnight on June 16 along Noosa Parade in his hometown of Noosa, Queensland, when police pulled him over and breath-tested him. The test registered a reading of 0.160 which is more than three times the legal-limit in Australia. Mr Petrie was also not in possession of a driving license at the time.

The ‘esky’ is fitted with a 50cc two-stroke engine and is apparently capable of a top speed of 20 km/h.

When handing down the verdict yesterday, Magistrate John Parker said it was “unfortunate that riding a motorised esky was considered the same as driving a car”. He also jokingly asked if the esky was ‘fully loaded’ – it was packed with rum and cola – and pointed out that “If he’d (Mr Petrie) been drunk on a horse he’d have been okay.”