A woman motorist was more than two-and-a-half times the drink-drive limit when she ploughed into the back of a parked car with a mother and three children sitting inside.
Penelope Harris (61) had been drinking brandy at her home in Halmer Gate, Spalding, and had 90 microgrammes of alcohol in breath after police arrested her on March 9. The legal limit is 35mcgs.
Rebecca Ritson, prosecuting, said Harris turned into the town’s Alexandra Road shortly after 6pm and hit the car.
A mother was inside with her three children and her husband had just got out to use a nearby cashpoint.
Miss Ritson made no mention of any injuries, but said “there was a little bit of damage to the other vehicle”.
The man using the cashpoint approached Harris, noticed her breath smelled of alcohol and called the police.
Spalding magistrates on Thursday banned Harris from driving for 24 months, fined her £265 and ordered her to pay £85 costs and a £27 victim surcharge.
Harris, who pleaded guilty, can cut six months off the ban if she completes a rehabilitation course.
Solicitor Rachel Stevens, mitigating, said: “She is mortified to be before the court for the first time in her life.”
Miss Stevens said following the breakdown of her marriage, Harris faced “some aggressive attempts to take her house away from her” and was also dealing with “a very difficult situation in relation to her daughter”.
On the day of the accident, she had been drinking at home – which was unusual for her – and got into the car just to drive around the corner.
She faced no charge in relation to the accident and it was unsafe to assume it was necessarily her fault. People often parked in the middle of the junction to use the cashpoint.