Drunk mum who drove nine miles the wrong way down A19 told police ‘I’m lost’
A beautician who drove nine miles down the wrong way of a dual carriageway told police 'I'm lost' when they found her slumped in a layby with a bottle of wine in her footwell.
Leanne Graham had drunk three bottles of wine before she got behind the wheel on the A19 in Teesside, a court heard.
The 38-year-old claimed she was "lost and didn't know the area" when she was found by officers three times the alcohol limit, reports Teesside Live.
Lynne Dalton, prosecuting, told Teesside Magistrates' Court how Graham had sparked panic as she travelled down the carriageway on the wrong side just before 9pm on April 25.
"She travelled south on the northbound carriageway to the junction with the A67 at Crathorne where she was forced to turn round by oncoming traffic," Ms Dalton said.
"Her Ford Focus was found parked in a layby. The engine was still running and the occupant inside.
"It was quite clear to the officers that she had been drinking and an empty bottle of wine was in the footwell of the passenger seat.
"She became very emotional, said she was lost and didn't know the area."
Graham told probation officers she was a "functioning alcoholic" after pleading guilty to drink driving at a hearing on May 13.
The mum-of-one, of Redcar, used alcohol as a "coping mechanism" after a series of bereavements and the collapse of her beauty business.
She had drunk three bottles of wine on the day she was caught, an amount she described as a "normal intake".
Graham "believed she was fit to drive" when she drove her partner's car to pick up a friend in Yarm.
Andrew Coleman, mitigating, said: "Her life was at the point where it was about to fall to bits.
"Everything, bit by bit, started getting on top of her. This has been a wake up call. She's getting help."
Graham was handed a 12-month community order, including alcohol treatment, ordered to pay £85 costs and £85 victim surcharge and disqualified from driving for 26 months.
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