An Angus drink-driver hit an oncoming car after the occupants gave her a no-lights warning, a court heard.
Pensioner Jemima Spurway, from Arbroath, was seen driving without her lights on at 11.30pm last month.
But when oncoming motorists tried to flash her into switching on her beams, she drove into their car.
The 73-year-old first offender appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court and admitted driving while more than four times over the legal alcohol limit in the town’s Brechin Road and Montrose Road on August 13.
The depute fiscal said: “Witnesses flashed their lights and sounded the horn but there was no reaction.
“There was a collision between the vehicles, and the accused continued to drive without lights, albeit at 10mph because of the collision.
“Witnesses Milne and Miller followed her and she drove to her own address.
“They then approached the accused and they could smell alcohol, and the accused began to apologise.
“She said: ‘Please don’t call the police, I’ll get in loads of trouble’.”
Defence agent Billy Rennie said: “She’s 73 years old and this is a considerable embarrassment to her.
“Her own house is on the market and she is living with her daughter and son-in-law.”
He added: “She is a widow of some 10 years and lost her brother in March. Drinking has been a coping strategy.
“She has been to see the GP and has been prescribed Antabuse to stop the drinking, and there has been an assessment of Alzheimers as a result of attending the GP.
“She doesn’t know if she’ll drive again and I ask your ladyship to deal with her leniently on that basis.”
Spurway, of Boysack near Arbroath, admitted driving after giving a breath alcohol reading of 90 microgrammes in 100 millilitres of breath, where the legal limit is 22 mics.
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown fined Spurway £400 and banned her from driving for a year.
She said: “You are a first offender and showed significant remorse, and are seeking medical treatment.”
