Benjamin Luke Ison sentenced in Tamworth court for high-range drink driving

Tamworth Local Court heard Benjamin Luke Ison now had three drink driving charges to his name at the age of 26.

"You're a young man to have your third, so time to draw a line under that," magistrate Julie Soars told him.

Ison represented himself when he fronted court for sentencing this week after pleading guilty to high-range drink driving.

Ms Soars handed him a 12-month good behaviour order and told him he must do 40 hours of community service.

"You'll have to pay something back to the community," she said.

Ms Soars said that if Ison couldn't make good decisions while drinking he needed to take away the opportunity to get behind the wheel.

"The ability to drive will be taken away from you with this outcome," she said.

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He was disqualified from having a driver's licence for nine months and must have an interlock for four years.

The court heard Ison had earlier been charged with mid-range drink driving and special-range drink driving, stemming from separate incidents, but got a non-conviction for one of them.

A sentencing report revealed he was "somewhat unexpectedly" given the chance to see a family member he hadn't seen in a while, and he made the "poor decision" to drive after drinking.

Ms Soars said the offending was not aggravated because no one was in the car when it was randomly stopped by police on September 23.

"It's just into high-range," she said.

Ms Soars told Ison he could not risk another drink driving matter.

"I know you had a reason for driving but if you want to have a licence ... you need to treat it responsibly," she said.

"Don't be tempted to drive, you're putting your liberty at stake."

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