Drink driver's road ban

A woman has told Cannock magistrates she didn't realise she was over the limit for alcohol when she was stopped by police in Hednesford after driving through a red light at temporary traffic signals.

Helen Mary Hudson, of Coopers Lane, St Albans, Hertfordshire, was in the town visiting her partner for the weekend when she was stopped by a police officer in the early hours of June 4 when she drove through a red light.

Hudson, aged 36, pleaded guilty to driving whilst over the alcohol limit at Cannock magistrates. She told the court she had only had two glasses of wine the night before.

A tearful Hudson, who works in London, told magistrates yesterday: "We'd had a nice day and we opened a bottle of wine on Sunday evening and I thought I was OK."

Hudson accepted she had driven through a temporary red light on Uxbridge Street just after 1am. She said: "Earlier in the day a car had overtaken us there and I wrongly assumed the lights were faulty. I could see the road ahead and I proceeded with caution."

Mr John Peel, prosecuting, said Hudson tested positive for alcohol, having 54 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

She was banned from driving for 12 months and fined £300. For the red light offence she was fined £60 and her licence endorsed. She was also ordered to pay a new victim surcharge of £15 and court costs. In total she will have to pay £418.