A DRINK driver who blamed a relative as she tried to evade responsibility for her actions has been given a community order.

Belinda Lee Snaith, 46, was three and a half times the legal alcohol limit when she crashed into parked cars and drove off, said Robyn Hartigan, prosecuting.

She hid in the toilet when police arrived at the home where she had parked her car and claimed that her relative had been driving.

He had been asleep until she arrived at the house.

Police questioned him before realising the true identity of the driver.

Rugby player Snaith tried to prevent officers putting handcuffs on her before being taken to Fulford Road Police Station.

It was the second time she had been caught drink driving, York magistrates heard.

Now she has to stay off alcohol together for three months or risk returning to court.

She is also off the roads for two and a half years.

Snaith, of Landing Lane, Riccall, pleaded guilty to drink driving and failure to stop after an accident.

Magistrates said she caused "significant damage" to both the parked cars and her own car and the breath test reading was high.

Snaith was given a 12-month community order with 25 days' rehabilitative activities and 150 hours' unpaid work and for 120 days must wear an alcohol abstinence tag which will record if she drinks alcohol. She must pay £85 prosecution costs and a £95 statutory charge.

Because her previous drink driving was in 2011, she was not subject to a minimum three-year driving ban. Magistrates gave her a 30-month ban.

Ms Hartigan said a member of the public alerted police to Snaith's activities on Sunday March 30.

The owner of one of the parked cars she had damaged tracked her down to the house where she had parked her black VW after driving off, and told police who went to the address.

She had told her brother-in-law she had hit the parked cars.

"Once aware of the police presence, she had gone to hide in the toilet," said Ms Hartigan.

She had also disconnected CCTV at the house.

When she emerged to speak to police, she claimed she had not been driving, but her nephew had been.

Her eyes were glazed and she was unsteady on her feet.

When she gave a breath test, it gave a reading of 125 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Magistrates read a probation report on her.

Defence solicitor Kevin Blount said: "There is clearly a significant background to this latest offending."

He did not go into details, saying they were in the report.

A driving ban would have a "significant impact" on her but would not lead to the loss of her job.

She was tackling her drinking, he said.