FORMER international gymnast Katie Slader has warned others not to risk drink driving for even the shortest of distances after she was caught in Witney.

The 20 year old, from Alvescot, near Bampton, was one-and-a-half times the legal limit when she was caught in Witan Way moving her Seat Ibiza car after being out for a Christmas drink with friends.

Last night Slader, who represented Northern Ireland at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, said she had not been trying to drive home and said she hoped other people would learn from her mistake.

According to Slader, who now studies Sports Development at Cardiff University, she had driven to have Christmas drinks with friends in The Eagle Vaults bar, in the Market Square, and had left her car in the Waitrose car park, intending to leave it overnight and get the bus home.

She said she decided to move it when friends warned her about vandalism in that area of the car park.

Slader said: “I drove past the police without my lights on and they pulled me over.

“They asked me if I’d been drinking and I said yes.

“I explained to them I was moving my car but at the end of the day I had been drinking and I shouldn’t have done it.

“I would just say to people that if you are planning to go out and drink, just don’t risk it. Don’t even take your car keys with you.

“That little thing I did, while a completely innocent act, will stay with me my whole life.”

Slader had 58 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Oxford magistrates banned her from driving for 12 months, which will be reduced by three months if she goes on a £130 awareness course, which she intends to do.

She was also fined £100, ordered to pay £60 costs and a compulsory victim’s surcharge of £15.

After a 15-year career involving up to 24 hours of training sessions a week, Slader said she retired from gymnastics at 18 to make the most of her time at University.

She added: “I’ve been doing gymnastics all of my life and I had had enough.”

Brake, the road safety charity, said it was glad Slader seemed to have learned her lesson. A spokesman added: “Drink drivers devastate family across the country every day, and even one drink can impair your judgement.”

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk