Woman almost seven times drink-drive limit avoids jail

A Fife woman has avoided a prison sentence after admitting driving while almost seven times over the limit.

Nicola Lowe, 40, formerly of Whitehall Avenue, Cardenden, and currently in homeless accommodation, previously admitted that on November 21 in Dunfermline Road, Crossgates, she drove with 142 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit being 22 micrograms.

Dunfermline Sheriff Court previously heard the incident had begun when Lowe’s husband suspected she may be driving having consumed alcohol.

He found her behind the wheel of his car but she locked the door to keep him out.

Mr Lowe then smashed the car window, took the keys and drove his wife back home.

The accused phoned the police but before they arrived she had taken another car belonging to her husband and driven off.

Defence solicitor Barbara Collie said her client “accepts her actions were extremely foolish”.

Sheriff Craig McSherry ordered Lowe to do 180 hours of unpaid work, fined her £300 and disqualified her from driving for two years.