A PORT Alfred magistrate yesterday warned drunk drivers they could be working weekend night shifts in the mortuary or manning roadblocks with traffic cops instead of sitting in a pub.

A visibly annoyed Walter le Grange told Johannes Oordt to tell all his “drinking chommies” he would not hesitate sentencing them to months of community service “every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night” to stop them drinking and driving. “It is absolutely reckless ... I will not tolerate it.”

He said he was considering putting offenders to work between 5pm and 2am in police stations, the mortuary or at road blocks to stop them putting other lives at risk.

He ignored prosecutor Paul Rossouw’s call to suspend the Oasis Water salesman’s driving licence for six months, as he needed it to work.

“Watch out ... do not come here again,” he warned Oordt, or he would do the “graveyard” shifts.

With the festive season just around the corner, Le Grange said drinking and driving was fast becoming a big problem in the town.

“It is a crisis ... young people are always in the pubs over weekends. There is nothing wrong with drinking ... you can drink until you are in a coma – just don’t drive.”

Oordt admitted drinking half a bottle of brandy on Friday before driving to a club to fetch his girlfriend. He received a R4000 fine or 180 days in jail, suspended for five years.

Le Grange’s tough stance comes days after he told 43 Air School and Stenden SA hotel school students he was getting tired of regularly seeing them in court on Mondays.

He saw up to 15 offenders every Monday for alleged drunk driving.

But his warning has fallen on deaf ears after Saturday’s arrests of a hospitality student and two trainee pilots, hours after a meeting between staff from both campuses and Rossouw to address the issue.

Jonathan Smith, weeks away from air school graduation, was arrested after he allegedly tried to evade a road block and had to be chased. Rossouw told Smith and Stenden student Shaun McNab that drinking and driving was getting out of hand. “Enough is enough.”

The two – and a third air school student who appears in court today – have opted to appoint lawyers to argue their case on November 30.

They were released on R1500 bail each. – Daily Dispatch