A drink-driver caught after she crashed her car into a ditch on the outskirts of Carlisle the morning after a night out has been banned from the road for more than two years.
Jenna Flanagan, 37, was in the driver’s seat of a white BMW 1 series when a police constable was asked to attend Lowry Street, off Durdar Road, at around 10.35am on June 4, Carlisle magistrates court heard.
A crash had been reported and the car was found in a ditch at the roadside. Flanagan was asked to stop the engine, which was still running, and the officer noted a smell of intoxicating liquor. There was a can of Dark Fruits cider in the centre console of the vehicle and a male passenger was holding a box of wine.
Flanagan failed a breath test and the lower of two evidential readings showed 97 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg.
After Flanagan pleaded guilty to drink-driving, her lawyer Andrew Gurney said she was a woman of previous good character and a mother who worked as a restaurant manager.
She had travelled to Carlisle for a night out with a male friend but got up late that morning, missed breakfast and got lost before losing control on a bumpy farm track. “This was a one-off error of judgement,” said Mr Gurney, who said the can of Dark Fruits was the man’s.
Magistrates made Flanagan, of Brooklyn Place, Wishaw, North Lanarkshire subject to a 12-month community order through which she must complete 80 hours’ unpaid work. She was also banned from driving for 25 months but accepted the offer of a drink-drive rehabilitation course which, if completed, would result in her disqualification being reduced by 25 weeks.
