DRIVING cross country to visit a friend in Wiltshire who has terminal cancer all became too much for one woman and she stopped and pulled over in a lay by near Ogbourne St George.

There Carole Smith consumed a number of cans of Pimm's along with part of a bottle of the spirit, which saw her fall asleep in her car.

Police attended the scene on the A346 shortly after 5pm on Sunday, July 24 after members of the public reported that she was slumped over the steering wheel of her 64-plate Suzuki Alto.

There they found the keys in the ignition and 57-year-old Smith asleep.

Yesterday she pleaded guilty to being in charge of a vehicle while above the drink drive limit when she appeared in the dock at Swindon Magistrates' Court.

Crown prosecutor Nick Barr explained that Smith had driven down from her home in West Drive, Lanchester, Durham to visit a friend in Salisbury who was dying.

She was taken into custody where she provided a breath specimen that showed she had 127mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mg in breath.

The court heard she had a previous conviction for drink driving from when she lived in Portugal where she had moved to work in a bar following the death of her husband to cancer in 2003.

Her defence, Gordon Hotson, told the magistrates that Smith was the sole carer for her 89-year-old mother who was not in good health and relied on her daughter to get out and about from her home. "A disqualification is going to be catastrophic in terms of her obligation to care for her mother," said Mr Hotson. "She also volunteers twice a week at a lunch club of about 50 people around six miles away where she does all of the shopping and the cooking. She is deeply remorseful."

He explained that previously she had held down a job for 15 years that required her to drive 25,000 miles each year, and in that time she hadn't notched up so much as a speeding ticket.

The magistrates heard that it had been Smith's intention to get a taxi from her car to a hotel in Marlborough as she realised she could not continue to drive in the emotional state that she was in as she neared her destination. But instead she had consumed the alcohol in her car and then fallen asleep.

Sentencing her, chairman of the bench Jonathan Chappell told her: "This was an extraordinarily high reading which has given us cause for concern."

He imposed a 12 month community order during which Smith must complete 100 hours of unpaid work.

But he explained they would not be banning her from driving due to the "adverse impact" on her mother that a ban would bring with it. Instead, he imposed ten penalty points on her licence, warning her that any further driving offence that bright with it three points would see her lose her licence.

"You are on a knife edge as far as your driving is concerned," he said. "However I would urge you not to consider the negative side, but rather as this as a last chance saloon."

She must also pay an £85 victim surcharge and £85 towards the costs of the prosecution.