A DRINK-DRIVER has had her licence taken away for 17 months after pleading guilty to being over the limit.

Joanne Douglas, 47, of Eglantyne Avenue, had 71 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath when she failed a roadside breath test at Salisbury Street on October 14.

The legal limit is 35mg.

Pauline Lambert, prosecuting, said: “Around 10.30pm, police saw a Ford Focus which had no insurance, so they stopped it and spoke to the driver, the defendant.The vehicle belonged to her boyfriend and she had no insurance to drive it.”

Emma Thacker, defending, said: “She had borrowed it because her own car had gone in for a service. She has a full insurance policy for her own car and thought that her boyfriend had insurance. Things have been rather difficult for her recently and she'd drunk vodka, which she later said was out-of-character, and felt fine to drive.”

As well as being disqualified from driving for almost two years, Douglas was also fined £160 and must pay £85 in costs plus £30 to victim services.