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Auckland (ANTARA News / Reuters) - A drunk driver who was trapped after her car overturned in fact opened a can of beer, while he waited for emergency crews rescued him, according to a New Zealand court was told.

Nigel Paul Sneddon (47) pleaded guilty to reckless driving and drunk driving after his blood alcohol content nearly three times higher than the permissible limit. He was tried in the court area in the city of Palmerston North, the Dominion Post newspaper reports this week.

Police found Paul, a former baker, was trapped in an overturned car Ford laser on June 1, was drinking a can of beer after he failed to pull over properly and crashed into and through the wooden barrier on the roadside. Consequently, the vehicles were mired.

Lawyer Peter Young said that when Paul found he could not opens the door, "there was nothing she could do at that moment, so he drank a beer ... again!"

When asked by police how many beers he had consumed, Paul replied, "Many, I have been drinking for four days continuously."

Paul told the newspaper is based in Wellintong he went for a drink after losing his job at a bakery on the same day the moment she heard her father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Meanwhile, Paul by his wife's tenuous relationships.

Judge Gregory Ross fined him 1,100 New Zealand dollars (780 dollars) and banned Paul driving for 10 months. It was his first offense.