Drink-drive mum spotted on the wrong side of the road
A roadside breath test revealed the delivery firm worker had 92 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.
The court was told it was Steel’s second alcohol-related driving charge in eight years, after she was banned in 2012 for failing to provide a specimen for analysis.
Prosecutor Paul Anderson said: “It’s about one in the morning when police are on duty.
“They travel through a red light in response to an incident and as they do, they see the defendant travelling left down a wrong carriageway.
“She was on that for a short period of time and then went on the right side, realising her error.
“She was stopped after a couple of streets. She was clearly drunk and gave a reading of 92microgrammes.
“She has a conviction from 2012 for failing to provide a specimen, so it’s a three-year ban.”
Jason Smith, defending, said: “The reality of the situation is that she is a different person to who I dealt with in 2012.
“She has moved on with her life. She is a full-time worker and she supports her child by herself.
“She has the additional stress of dealing with her parents. It seems that everything got on top of her on this night. She doesn’t accept everything that the police officers say in relation to her driving.”
District Judge Natalie Wortley told Steel: “This is aggravated by the previous conviction.”
She handed Steel an interim driving ban and adjourned the case for reports ahead of sentencing at the same court on Tuesday.