A woman who drove whilst three-and-a-half times over the limit turned to drink after her marriage broke down.
Helen Cartledge was stopped by police concerned that she was driving too slowly for the speed limit on Fenay Lane in Almondbury on November 27.
Her Ford Fiesta was also weaving from side to side of the road, Kirklees magistrates heard.
The officers could immediately smell alcohol on the 45-year-old’s breath and gave her a roadside breath test, which she failed.
She was arrested and taken to Huddersfield Police Station where further tests showed that she had 126 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.
This is more than three-and-a-half times over the legal limit of 35 microgrammes.
Her solicitor Mike Sisson-Pell explained that the previous day his client had visited the Christmas market in Manchester where she had a lot to drink.
The following afternoon on the day of the offence she had two gin and tonics with a friend at home, however she later felt fine to drive.
He told magistrates that Cartledge, of Westgate in Almondbury, had struggled following the breakdown of her 24-year marriage and been made redundant from her job.
He said: “It’s like a bereavement. She wasn’t coping and has increased her daily drinking.
“Driving over the limit is not something she would knowingly have done.”
Cartledge pleaded guilty to driving whilst over the prescribed limit.
She was sentenced to 60 hours of unpaid work and banned from driving for 30 months.
