Corporate titan pleads guilty over 'absolute shocker' drunken crash

Joel Thickins, a prominent figure in the private equity world and co-head of TPG Asia, has pleaded guilty to charges of negligent driving and refusing an alcohol-related breath test. The pleas stem from an incident in early June where Thickins crashed his BMW into five other vehicles in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

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The defendant on a busy street … swerves out of his lane, collides … causes damage to that vehicle, then collides with another vehicle … then a loss of control, slams into the rear of another vehicle.

Appearing in a Sydney courtroom, the 48-year-old admitted to driving negligently while under the influence of alcohol and subsequently refusing to provide an alcohol-detecting breath test at the scene and later at Paddington Police Station. TPG Asia, a firm managing over $US23 billion in assets, has launched an internal investigation into the crash, and Thickins is currently taking leave from the company.

The judge presiding over the case characterized Thickins's actions as "an absolute shocker" and stated the situation "could not have been much worse." The court heard details of the collision, describing how Thickins's vehicle swerved out of its lane, struck one car, then another, before losing control and hitting a third vehicle from behind.

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Lesson learned. It's a shocker.

Thickins's legal representative, Justin Wong, informed the court that his client understands the gravity of the situation and is "ashamed and embarrassed." Wong highlighted Thickins's lack of prior offenses, his completion of a traffic offenders program, and his commitment to compensating those affected by the reckless driving. Despite the refusal to take a breath analysis, which led the judge to assume high-range drunk driving, Thickins received fines totaling $1,430 and a nine-month suspension of his driver's license. The crime of high-range drunk driving can carry a jail sentence of up to 18 months.

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He certainly knows he shouldn't have got in the car that evening.