DRINK DRIVE? IT’S KIRSTIE ALLSOPP’S FAULT!

CALORIE TIPS: Channel 4 star Kirstie switched to vodka A SCHOOL dinner lady who drank vodka after hearing TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp suggest it could help her lose weight was caught drink-driving when she crashed.

Rachel Nicholls, 49, claimed in court she did not know it was alcoholic and thought it was “like a soft drink”.

But she ended up driving into several vehicles before stopping, letting a taxi driver pull the keys from the ignition of her Honda Accord.

Nicholls, of Kesgrave, Suffolk, was more than three times over the drink-drive limit.

Allsopp, best known for her Channel 4 property show Location, Location, Location, recently revealed she’d lost two stone by eating and drinking healthily.

She said she had swapped drinking wine for martinis or vodka and sparkling water.

Ipswich magistrates heard Nicholls had been to her daily Zumba class on November 13 before going to her job as a school dinner supervisor, leaving at about 1.20pm.

Her solicitor Carol Robinson said: “At some point during the day, she heard Kirstie Allsopp discuss the low calorific content of vodka.

“She bought a bottle from Tesco, before driving round posting advertising for her husband’s motorcycle business.

“She had brought food away from work and pulled over to eat some pasta. In doing so, she also consumed the vodka with a can of Coke.

“She got carried away. She’d never had vodka CARRIED AWAY: Nicholls