A woman who downed vodka before getting behind the wheel admitted that she could have killed someone.

Beverley Booth, 55, was almost two-and-a-half times over the legal limit when she was involved in an accident on Church Lane in Clayton West.

She said that she had drunk a quarter of a bottle of vodka at home before realising that she’d left her purse at the home of her grandchildren, who she had been looking after earlier that day.

Police were called following the accident on March 13 in which her Vauxhall Vectra clipped the side of an oncoming car.

Breath tests revealed that she had 84 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

This was almost two-and-a-half times over the legal limit of 35 microgrammes.

Booth, of Sackville Street in Barnsley, said she felt in control of the car but accepted that she could have killed someone.

Kirklees magistrates heard that the former nursing home carer would drink half of a bottle of vodka every other day and was now seeing a hypnotherapist about her drinking problem.

They banned her from driving for 40 months due to a previous drink-driving offence.

She will have complete a community order with up to 35 days of rehabilitation activities and pay £85 costs plus £85 victim surcharge.