Cheddleton OAP, 71, was over the limit after Christmas Eve car crash

A 71-YEAR-OLD retired nurse helping out a friend was caught drink-driving on Christmas Eve – after downing a gin and tonic and a rum and coke.

Rene Gleave had drunk the shorts earlier in the night before offering to give her friend a lift home.

But Staffordshire Police were called after Gleave crashed into a parked vehicle in Clover Grove, Leekbrook, near Leek, at just after 11.30pm on Christmas Eve.

North Staffordshire Justice Centre was told yesterday how a neighbour heard a loud bang and then saw a car reversing on the housing estate.

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A breath test gave a reading of 52 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – when the legal limit is 35.

Now Gleave, of Ox Pasture, Cheddleton, has been handed a 12-month driving ban after admitting drink-driving.

She was also fined £225 and ordered to pay £85 costs.

Mike Stephenson, defending, told the court that his client was at home with her husband and a friend who had come to their house for Christmas Eve.

He said: "During the evening she had a gin and tonic and a rum and coke which she consumed over a long period of time.

"The friend was about to leave and the defendant offered them a lift home."

Mr Stephenson told the court that the friend lived on a new housing estate where there were no lights and Gleave had got lost.

She was trying to do a three point turn when she clipped a parked vehicle.

The court heard Gleave – who has been driving for more than 40 years – was totally ashamed of what had happened.

Mr Stephenson added: "She very rarely drinks but it was Christmas Eve."

Gleave is one of 192 motorists arrested during Staffordshire Police's drink-driving crackdown between December 1 and January 1.

Officers found 11.2 per cent of the 1,721 motorists breath-tested by police provided positive tests.

That compares with 6.47 per cent of positive tests at Christmas, 2011 and just 4.37 per cent in 2008.

Police have put the increase in positive tests down to more residents reporting drink drivers.

Meanwhile in a second drink-driving case at North Staffordshire Justice Centre, mother-of-three Kelly Lovatt, aged 32, of Prince Street, Leek, was banned from driving for 22 months.

She admitted drink-driving after giving a positive reading of 91 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath on December 28 in Cheadle Road, Cheddleton.

The mother-of-three was also fined £110 and ordered to pay £85 costs.