Man in wheelchair charged with drinking and driving

Police in Australia have charged a man for drunk driving in a motorised wheelchair after he was found to be six times over the legal alcohol limit, local media reported on Monday.

Police in the tropical northern Queensland city of Cairns said the man had a blood alcohol reading of 0.31, and was so drunk he was asleep at the controls of his motorised wheelchair in a turning lane of a major highway.

"It beggars belief," Police Inspector Bob Walters told the Cairns Post newspaper, adding wheelchairs, bicycles, horses and skateboards were all considered to be vehicles under the state's road laws.

"It's unlawful, it is unacceptable and people should realise it could lead to a fatality," he said.

Other motorists on the four-lane highway had to swerve to avoid the wheelchair, police said.