Shropshire college worker in Mercedes smash had been drinking vodka

Mrs Abigail Hall, prosecuting at Telford Magistrates Court, said police were called to an accident in Station Road, Oakengates, near the medical practice where a blue Mercedes SLK had mounted the kerb "with extensive front end damage".

The defendant, Deborah Scotts, of Crudgington Green, Crudgington, was being looked after in the back seat of the car of one of the witnesses, Mrs Hall said.

Mrs Hall said police officers described Scotts as "having bloodshot eyes" and "slurred speech" and said she smelt of alcohol. She was arrested after she failed a roadside breath test.

Scotts, 50, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol when she appeared in court on Wednesday. Following her arrest she told police she could not remember what had happened, said Mrs Hall.

The defendant, who was an IT worker at a college, had gone home early from work at 9am on August 11 because she had been feeling unwell, the court was told.

She had stopped at Tesco, bought a half size bottle of vodka and drank it in the car park, said the prosecutor. She provided a reading of 104 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath after she was arrested.

The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Scotts, who had no previous convictions, later told officers she had not been thinking straight and had been under a great deal of stress in both her personal and private life, said Mrs Hall. Judge Nigel Cadbury said that she had committed a serious offence, but that as Scotts had already been seeking help there was little that could be offered by the probation service.

Scotts was fined £750 and ordered to pay various court charges totalling £310. She was disqualified for two years

Mr Paul Nicholas, for Scotts, said she had since been signed off with stress and following the incident had sought help and was receiving counselling.