POLICE were alerted by staff at the Station Inn, Ribblehead, about a customer who had left in drink, heard Skipton magistrates.

Fiona Nixon, 40, was stopped shortly later at Back Gate, Ingleton, in a Ford Puma on April 18 and provided a positive roadside breath test.

She was taken to the police station where she was found to have 79 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit is 35.

Nixon, who admitted drink driving, a woman of previous good character, told the court she was extremely sorry and apologised for wasting police time.

The court also heard evidence in mitigation from someone who had been in the pub at the time who claimed Nixon had been told to leave the pub and to sleep in her car despite having a room booked for the night.

He said he believed Nixon had suffered some trauma and had felt it wrong that as a vulnerable woman she had been ordered out of the pub.

Nixon, of Reid Close, Ingleton, was banned from driving for 17 months and fined £120 with costs of £85 and £30 surcharge. If she completes a drink drivers rehabilitation course, her ban will be reduced by 17 weeks.