A Taranaki father has pleaded guilty to having his 10-year-old son drive for him because he was drunk.

The man was charged with neglect and appeared in New Plymouth District Court today, where he was granted name suppression.

The incident occurred in the early hours of June 3 outside a bar in New Plymouth, where police noticed a parked vehicle sticking out into the road.

Officers approached the vehicle and found a 10-year-old boy at the wheel - with his intoxicated father in the passenger seat.

The father told officers his son was the sober driver, and that the child had driven him many times before.

The man is due to reappear in the New Plymouth District Court in September.