A WOMAN who was almost three times the drink-drive limit has escaped a jail sentence.

It was Marie Addy's second drink-driving offence in three years, Selby magistrates were told. Today the sentence was condemned as "appalling" by the Campaign Against Drink-driving.

Addy, 22, of Station Road, Carlton, was arrested by police on November 16. She had been driving a red BMW, in Market Place, Selby, when officers saw her walk to the rear of her car.

Emma Pearson, prosecuting, said the officers noticed she was unsteady on her feet and that her speech was slurred.

The defendant failed a roadside breath test and later samples revealed 101 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Jane Pattison, mitigating, said that her client had been involved in another drink-driving incident three years ago.

On that occasion, she had written off her car on the A19 and was told by doctors she was lucky to escape from the wreck alive.

Miss Pattison said that in the latest incident, Addy had driven the car - given to her by her parents as a "pick-me-up" after the last drink-driving offence - only a short distance.

Addy had been drinking with friends in the town centre after a row with her boyfriend and had planned to leave her BMW outside Selby Abbey overnight.

But a friend advised her to move her car as they believed there was a market outside the abbey on a Saturday.

Miss Pattison said the incident had cost Addy her relationship with her boyfriend as he strongly opposed drink-driving.

The Selby solicitors' firm where she worked as a receptionist was also considering disciplinary action, she said.

Addy, who admitted the offence, was banned from driving for four years.

She was also given a one-year community rehabilitation order and an 80-hour community punishment order, with £55 costs.

Campaign Against Drink-driving national chairman Tony Dring said today: "The magistrates have failed in their duty to take drink-driving seriously. It might be the season of goodwill, but by allowing her to walk free, they have failed to show goodwill to the frightening number of people who are killed by drink-drivers every year."

Updated: 12:01 Saturday, December 21, 2002