A WELLS woman who said she had collided into a parked car when she swerved to avoid a cat in the road was later found to be nearly double the drink-drive limit.
Teaching assistant Lian Shirley Simmons was driving on Church Street when she alerted the owner of the damaged car who lived nearby when he heard a loud bang.
She gave him her address and then walked off with her dog, but he suspected she had been drinking and called the police.
When they turned up at her address she claimed she had just drunk some wine as she was shocked by the accident but later conceded this was not the case.
Simmons, 45, of Churchill Close, pleaded guilty to a charge of drink-driving on February 13 when she appeared in court at Yeovil before District Judge Angela Brereton.
Prosecutor Jenna Morgan said the witness lived in Church Street and at 8pm he heard a loud bang come from outside and saw a car in the middle of the road being revved by the driver.
"She got out and looked around the vehicle and said she had seen a cat and had swerved to avoid hitting it," she said.
"The witness then saw a dent in her wheel and realised his car had been hit, and when she said she couldn’t move her car he noticed her voice was slurred."
He asked if she had been drinking and she replied she had only had two drinks and then left with her dog but left her address with him.
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She didn’t return, so the witness called the police who went to her home, and she claimed she had swerved to avoid a cat and was so shocked when she got home she had drunk some wine.
A subsequent search of the address revealed no opened bottles of wine, and when she took a breath test the reading was 65mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath, the legal limit being 35mcg of alcohol.
Sam White, defending, said there was a suggestion of post-driving alcohol consumption but she was pragmatic and accepted she was over the limit while talking to the police.
"She works at a school as a teaching assistant and finds it incredible rewarding, however she is worried that she may be discharged by her employer.
"She is a caring and trustworthy individual and this is going to be very difficult for her going forward."
The district judge disqualified the defendant from driving for 18 months and fined her £275 with a £110 surcharge and £60 costs.
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