'˜Didn't want her friends to see her crying'

Rita Valantinaite, 33, of Carlton Road, Boston, admitted driving with excess alcohol, when she appeared at Boston Magistrates Court.

Prosecuting, Jim Clare said she was seen driving in the early hours of the morning of October 18 and police stopped her because she was driving slowly and was straddling the centre white line on the A16 London Road.

He said she gave a positive breath test, was arrested, and at the police station gave a reading of 72 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath (legal limit of 35).

In mitigation, Suleman Baig said she had just received bad personal news and as she was surrounded by people at home, she needed to leave as she wanted to be alone and not cry in front of them. He said she had been driving slowly because she was reflecting on everything that had gone wrong but she had been drinking earlier in the day.

The magistrates banned her from driving for 18 months but offered her the drink drivers’ rehabilitation course which would reduce the period of the ban by 18 weeks.

She was also fined £280 and ordered to pay £115 in costs and charges.