Gavin Hawthorn, pictured in 2004, who has killed four people in car accidents, has been convicted of drink-driving. (File photo)

Recidivist drink-driving offenders should face harsher punishments and have their licences revoked permanently, a road safety charity says.

Serial drink-driver Gavin Hawthorn, who has killed four people in road crashes, was back in court on Tuesday to face his 12th drink-driving charge, after being caught in Paraparaumu in June.

Hawthorn, 56, was sentenced in Porirua District Court to six months' home detention and 180 hours' community work, and disqualified from holding or obtaining a licence for two years.

GREG NOVAK Clive Matthew-Wilson, editor of car review website Dog and Lemon, says the current system for treating repeat drink-driving offenders is not working. (File photo)

He faced one charge of excess breath alcohol - third or subsequent offence, and avoided a ninth stint in prison.

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Caroline Perry, director of road safety charity Brake, said Hawthorn should never be allowed back on the road.

"This driver has consistently put the lives of other road users at risk and shown a complete disregard for the law.

"In cases where someone is a serious recidivist offender, we want to see stronger sentences and a permanent loss of driving licence."

Under New Zealand law, a person can lose their licence "indefinitely", but can eventually regain it.

Hawthorn was jailed for 10 years in 2004 for the manslaughter of Lance Fryer, 34, in a high-speed crash in Wairarapa the previous year.

Another crash in 1989, also in Wairarapa, killed three others.

Hawthorn's record of offending dates back to 1979 and includes eight stints in prison.

This latest offence, in which Hawthorn blew 444mcg of alcohol per litre of breath, occurred on June 7 after he was stopped at a police checkpoint on Mazengarb Rd, Paraparaumu. The legal limit for drivers aged 20 and over is 250mcg.

In sentencing, Judge James Johnston said Hawthorn's drink-driving history was appalling. "It is indeed one of the worst I've seen."

The judge said it was by the "slimmest of margins" Hawthorn did not get sent to prison. The charge carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $6000 fine.

Among Hawthorn's many convictions are 12 for drink-driving, 10 for driving while disqualified, three for dangerous driving, and one for careless driving, as well as others for burglary, theft, drugs and violence.

Hawthorn was released from prison in 2013.

Road safety campaigner Clive Matthew-Wilson, editor of the car review website Dog And Lemon, said repeat drink-driving offenders should be kept in a purpose-built institution until they could prove they no longer posed a risk.

"There clearly needs to be a secure institution that exists solely for the purpose of getting people off alcohol and drugs.

"Putting people in a ghastly, violent place like a prison doesn't give a man much motivation to be stone-cold sober."