POLICE found a mother-of-three slumped drunk in her car with a half-empty bottle of brandy in the glove compartment, a court heard.

Officers were called to Lime Lane, in Darlington, on May 1 by a member of the public concerned about a woman who had been sat in a parked car for around seven hours.

Prosecutor Blair Martin told Darlington Magistrates’ Court today (Tuesday, May 14) that when officers arrived they found 51-year-old Elizabeth Wailes asleep in the driver’s seat.

Mr Blair said: “The police knocked on the car window to wake the defendant.

“They could smell alcohol and her speech was slurred; the keys were in the ignition and she told officers she had driven there at about 9am.

“She told the officers she needed to leave to pick her children up from school.

“She took the handbrake off and the vehicle rolled towards the blind bend before the officer leaned in, put the handbrake on a pulled the keys out of the ignition.”

Mr Blair said once Wailes was out of the car she was unsteady on her feet and there was an empty bottle of wine in the boot and a half-empty bottle of brandy in the glove compartment.

A breath test revealed she was more than twice over the legal limit for driving.

Wailes, of The Green, Brafferton, pleaded guilty to attempting to drive above the alcohol limit and without a correct licence - she was using a French driving licence.

Mitigating, Jane Scott said Wailes was a French national who had moved to England to help her mother look after her house, but was struggling to find a job and adjust to life in England.

Magistrates banned Wailes from driving for 40-months. She will have to pay £215 in court costs and fines.