A woman who crashed through a hedge after leaving an Eden Valley country road has been banned from driving by magistrates who heard it was her third drink-driving conviction.
Diane Black-Ware, 57, had been travelling between Great Salkeld and the A686 at around 4.25pm on August 12.
Black-Ware’s vehicle collided with a hedgerow, continued partially into a farmer’s field and airbags deployed.
She later told of travelling home from work from her then place of work in Kirkoswald, and trying to take avoiding action when confronted with an oncoming BMW on the wrong side of the road.
A breath test proved positive and a later evidential reading showed 71 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath — just over twice the legal limit of 35mcg.
Black-Ware, of Juniper Way, Penrith, admitted drink-driving and, Carlisle Magistrates Court heard, had two previous convictions for like offences dating back to 2016 and 2018.
Steven Marsh, defending, said Black-Ware’s had regained her driving licence six months before she was caught again, in August this year. She had not consumed alcohol since the 2018 offence but then returned to heavy use on the morning of August 12 after receiving upsetting news about her father.
Black-Ware had been fully co-operative with police after the incident, said Mr Marsh. He added: “She says drinking was just a way of trying to cope with he news she had, in an ill thought out manner.”
Magistrates imposed a 12-month community order comprising probation service rehabilitation and also a 90-day alcohol treatment requirement.
Black-Ware was also fined £40 and given a 40-month driving ban.
