A woman was found to be at near twice the drink-driving limit after police saw one of her passenger's legs hanging out of the car as she celebrated her birthday.
Police on patrol in Leicester Centre spotted Kerry Morgan in a VW Golf on 18 September 2022, with a passenger partly out of the car.
The officers followed the car into a street, where they crawled along at a speed of less than 20mph. Kerry was pulled over and given a breath test, which she failed and was promptly arrested, LeicestershireLive reports.
At the police station, Kerry was tested again and the reading showed that she had 67 microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit of alcohol per breath is 35 microgrammes.
Kerry pleaded guilty to drink-driving on Wednesday at the Leicester Magistrates Court.
The prosecutor, Mohammed Zarandouz said the fact there were passengers in her car made the offence worse.
He also added that the magistrates should be considering a ban of at least 17 months based on the alcohol reading that was taken. The statutory minimum ban for this offence is 12 months.
Kerry’s representative, Sandeep Kaushal, said: "It was a belated birthday treat for Ms Morgan, who had not been out for several months. Wine was consumed."
Sandeep added that Morgan's job involved the care of disabled people, and argued that they, as well as her five children, would be affected if Morgan was banned from driving.
Wendy Boneham, chairman of the bench, told Morgan: "Given the fact you do- do exceptional work in the community we are going to step out of our guidelines and disqualify you from driving for only 12 months."
Morgan was also ordered to pay a £346 fine, £85 costs and a £138 victim surcharge.
