PHOTO
It's been a hectic start to the Parkes Elvis Festival for local police after a serious crash with multiple people injured closed the Newell Highway for eight hours, and a man more than twice the legal alcohol limit allegedly hopped behind the wheel and mounted the kerb in the centre of town.
Emergency services were called to the Parkes Bypass after two vehicles travelling in opposite directions collided at the London Road intersection just before 2pm on Wednesday.
A 73-year-old female passenger suffered serious injuries and was airlifted to Liverpool Hospital. She remains in a critical but stable condition.
An 88-year-old male driver from Forbes was taken to Orange Hospital, while a 70-year-old woman from Parkes driving the other vehicle was airlifted to Westmead Hospital. Her condition is unknown at this stage.
There was also a male passenger and two children in the second car - it is unknown if they were taken to hospital.
The highway was closed for about eight hours, with traffic diverted onto the old highway through Parkes.
Officer in charge at Parkes Police Station Inspector Adrian Matthews said the circumstances of the crash are under investigation.
Both drivers also had their blood alcohol level tested.
Just over an hour later a 53-year-old man allegedly with a blood alcohol reading of 0.126 had driven his car over the gutter in the carpark near the Parkes Council Offices and library towards Welcome Street, and into a park bench where it got stuck.
With so many people within the area for the festival, Inspector Matthews said it was lucky no one was injured.
After attempting to free the car but couldn't, the male from Broken Hill allegedly walked away leaving the car where it was.
Officers later found him in Cooke Park and arrested him.
He was breath tested, and later charged with mid range drink driving and had his licence suspended.
The man will appear in court at a later date.
The vehicle was towed by police.
Day one of the Parkes Elvis Festival kicked-off on Wednesday under extreme heatwave conditions that are expected to climb as high as 41 degrees on Saturday.
The mercury peaked at 38.7 on Wednesday and 39.7 at 5.09pm on Thursday as recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology.
It was still 22.8 degrees at midnight.
"We've been treating people for the heat, as you would expect," Inspector Matthews said.
He is encouraging festival goers to stay hydrated as we enter temps in the 40s this Friday and Saturday.
He is also advising people to make sure they lock-up or lock-away any property such as bikes and e-bikes, and valuables that could attract opportunistic offenders.
Extra police are on deck for the festival, including a dog unit, which Inspector Matthews said is standard operation for any large event.
"Usually the Parkes Elvis Festival is a well attended and well behaved event," he added.
