A GALASHIELS woman who drove dangerously while almost four times the legal alcohol limit has been banned from the road for 16 months and will need to re-sit the extended driving test.

Forty-eight-year-old Jane Mutch pleaded guilty to both offences which happened on the A7 road between Stow and Galashiels on June 13.

Selkirk Sheriff Court heard the vehicle she was driving swerved into the opposite carriageway and also collided with a banking resulting in tyres and a bumper damaged but despite this she continued to drive for six miles when the car was not fit to be driven.

Police eventually traced the vehicle in Thistle Street, Galashiels, with a blown out tyre and damage.

Mutch gave an alcohol breath reading of 82 microgrammes – the legal limit being 22.

Defence lawyer Ed Hulme said his client had seen someone from her past in a local shop and decided to go and see her partner in Loanhead.

But at Stow she thought better of it and turned back to Galashiels but started losing control of the vehicle.

In addition to the ban, she was given a one-year Community Pay Back order involving supervision.