A MOTORIST drove from Newcastle to York when more than twice the drink drive limit, York Magistrates Court heard.

A member of the public ended Victoria Hewitt’s journey by calling police as she was nearing her destination at Bishopthorpe.

By then she had driven 90 miles.

Hewitt, 34, of Montague Road, Bishopthorpe, pleaded guilty to drink driving.

Her barrister Brooke Morrison handed in a statement from Hewitt about the circumstances leading up to the offence.

District judge Adrian Lower told Hewitt: “You went to Newcastle for a night out.

“You didn’t eat anything, you didn’t sleep and because you felt very emotional for reasons I can understand having read your statement, you decided to return in the early hours to York.

“You made a colossal error of judgement, committing a criminal offence as a result and having to pick up the pieces.

“You clearly were putting not just yourself but other people at risk.

“You are intelligent enough, I know, to appreciate how serious what you did could have been.”

He banned her from driving for 20 months, fined her £200 and ordered her to pay a £30 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.

Jessica Lister, prosecuting, said the member of the public was so alarmed by Hewitt’s erratic driving on the York Outer Ring Road near one of its A19 junctions they called police.

Officers stopped Hewitt on the A1237 at 5.30am on June 2.

A blood test gave a reading of 181 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80.

Ms Morrison said without her driving licence, the 34-year-old will have major problems getting to work in a Leeds hospital and meeting her family commitments.

Hewitt had not realised how bad her emotional state had become, the barrister said.