SHE was meant to be teaching motorcycle riders safe driving skills.
But instructor Sandra Kenyon was so drunk that she repeatedly fell off her bike during a lesson.
Now a court has banned the Calderdale riding expert from the roads.
She was found to be nearly four times the drink-drive limit after repeatedly falling during a lesson and was yesterday banned from driving for three years.
Kenyon, 46, who fell off three times as she gave a lesson in Bradford last month was also ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work.
Kenyon had 131 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – almost four times the limit of 35mg, Bingley Magistrates’ Court heard.
Police later found two brandy bottles – one empty and one three-quarters full – in her jacket.
Kenyon, of Northedge Park, Hipperholme, admitted riding a motorcycle while over the legal limit at a previous hearing.
The court was told Kenyon had been giving instruction to a learner biker on March 3. But shortly after setting off she dropped her motorcycle and needed help to get back on. The rest of the lesson continued in a similar fashion and ended with Kenyon on the ground with a number of people gathered round her.
When police arrived and removed her motorcycle jacket they found two bottles of French brandy.
After the last hearing in March, Roger Stanley, of Ridesafe Motorcycle School, said Kenyon had been sacked on the day of the offence.
Kenyon had worked for Ridesafe for nine years and had been employed on a sub-contractual basis, Mr Stanley said.
The mother-of-two Kenyon was arrested during a lesson she was giving to pupil Philip Hopkins on March 3.
Nadine Clough, prosecuting, said the instructor dropped her bike on the ground shortly after setting off from Holme Wood in Bradford and was “on the floor again” soon after.
The court heard she set off yet again towards Shipley but, as Mr Hopkins approached a roundabout on Wrose Road, he could not see Kenyon following him.
Miss Clough said: “Over the radio link he heard Mrs Kenyon describe that her leg was hurting. He realised she may have fallen off her bike again.”
People gathered around her and the police were called.
Christopher Bird, defending, told the court his client had been a “competent and popular” instructor who had never been in trouble with the courts before.
Mr Bird said she was “well regarded by her pupils and her employers”.
He said Kenyon had been driving since she was 17, had ridden motorcycles for 12 years and been an instructor for nine years.
According to Mr Bird, she said she had “no real excuse” for what she did.
Chairman of the bench John Parker told Kenyon he and his two colleagues had seriously considered whether to send her to prison.
The sentence was criticised by Calderdale road safety campaigner Carole Whittingham, the founder of Support And Care After Road Death and Injury, who said: “We believe drink-drive punishments should be much tougher.
“The court had warned this woman that a custodial sentence was a possibility but, again, that has not happened.”
