A MENTAL health worker who twice went drink-driving when acting as a designated driver for her friends has been banned from the roads for almost two years.

Hayley Suzanne Fairclough’s driving when nearly twice the limit caused her car to crash, York magistrates heard.

She was on bail at the time having been arrested for drink-driving two months earlier and was awaiting the result of a blood alcohol test.

Fairclough, 22, of Yearsley Crescent, off Huntington Road, York, pleaded guilty to two charges of drink-driving.

In addition to a 22-month driving ban, she was given a 12-month community order with 40 hours’ unpaid work.

She was also told to pay £170 prosecution costs.

Her solicitor, Mark Thompson, said Fairclough was on her way home from the funeral of a friend who had died unexpectedly when she was stopped in Haxby Road. The death had caused Fairclough anxiety and she was on anti-depressants.

The court was told she had not thought about the effects of the amount of alcohol she had drunk at the funeral.

Martin Butterworth, prosecuting, said a breath test gave a reading of 67 millilitres of alcohol in 100 milliltres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

A blood test taken after she failed a roadside breath test on July 19 in Huntington Road gave a reading of 96 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80.

Fairclough told a probation officer the bar she had been at that day had been offering two drinks for the price of one, so she had taken up the offer.

Mr Thompson said Fairclough was remorseful for her actions.