A woman caught almost five times over the drink drive limit has been banned from the roads for three years.

Chairman of the bench Kay Whitaker told Carol Lain that the alcohol reading she gave police last month was one of the highest she had ever seen.

“I don’t think in all the time I have been a magistrate I have seen a reading as high as this. It is off the scale,” she said of the breathalyser result.

Oxford Magistrates’ Court heard Lain, 35, was stopped by the police in Stoke Lyne on August 12 over concerns about her driving. She was seen weaving across the road.

She blew 163mcgs of alcohol in 100ml of breath – almost five times the legal limit of 35mcgs.

Lain was said to have struggled following the death of her father. She was drinking around two bottles of wine every day.

The justices were told she was remorseful and had lost her job. Lain, of Portway, Banbury, pleaded guilty at the first opportunity to drink driving.

She was sentenced to a 12 week suspended sentence, ordered to complete a 12 month alcohol rehab programme and eight rehabilitation activity requirement days. She must pay £180 in costs and surcharge.

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