Motorist was almost three times alcohol limit

Fines and costs totalling almost £1,000 result from conviction

A woman has been caught behind the wheel after drinking nearly three times the legal limit.

In the dock at Reading Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, June 27, was 35-year-old Charlotte Ann Hawkins of Hillcrest, Hampstead Norreys.

She admitted driving a Hyundai IX35 on Inglewood Road in Kintbury on June 9 after drinking more than the legal limit.

Tests showed 104mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath in her system.

The legal limit is 35mcg.

Ms Hawkins was fined £800 and ordered to pay £85 costs plus a statutory victim services surcharge of £80.

In addition she was banned from driving for 24 months.

Magistrates said they had departed from the sentencing guidelines by reducing the punishment because of the stress the defendant had been under at the time of the offence and also because of her obvious remorse.