A drink driver who was caught flouting her driving ban has to start her time off the road from the beginning again.

Donna Nicholas, 50, was more than twice the legal alcohol limit as she drove along Bishopthorpe Road on April 10 in a Vauxhall Insignia.

Eighteen days later, she was banned from driving for 17 months after admitting drink driving and warned she would face further punishment if she drove before November 2023.

Emily Hitch, prosecuting, told York Magistrates Court police stopped Nicholas at the wheel of a Skoda Superb on Oxton Road, Tadcaster, on July 11.

Nicholas, of Nunthorpe Grove, South Bank, York, pleaded guilty to driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance.

Magistrates gave her a second 17-month driving ban, starting from the day of her second court appearance, and made her subject to a 12-month community order with 80 hours’ unpaid work and 20 days’ rehabilitative activities. She was also ordered to pay a £114 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.

“You must not drive any vehicle,” the magistrates warned her.

Nicholas represented herself and broke down in tears in the dock.

“I’m just ashamed of myself,” she said. “I know I have done wrong. I won’t do it again.”

She now cannot drive until April 2024.

Magistrates read a pre-sentence report prepared by probation officers about Nicholas.