Drink driving ex-policewoman drove into another car in Sutton

Claire Burrows argued about who was to blame with the driver of the car her Ford KA had hit, on Stoneyford Road, at 6pm, on May 6.

Members of the public called police because they were concerned the row would escalate, said prosecutor Simon Rowe.

A test revealed she had 74 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, when the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

“She told police she had been waving at a group of teenagers she knew and waved the other car past,” said Mr Rowe.

“That car stopped suddenly and she drove into the back of it.”

She had been up until 5am that morning, drinking eight to nine pints of strong cider, the court heard.

Treve Lander, mitigating, said Burrows was a woman with an “excellent record”, who had to leave the force after 12 years because of post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of her police work.

She also suffers from anxiety and epilepsy, he said, adding that she had developed a dependency on alcohol, which she was trying to tackle.

“She could have walked to the shop,” Mr Lander said. “She was just going around the corner.”

Burrows, 38, of Vere Avenue, Sutton, admitted driving with excess alcohol, when she appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Friday.

She was banned for 18 months, but was offered a drink drive rehabilitation course which will reduce it by 137 days, if completed by May 2019.

She was fined £179, and ordered to pay a £30 government surcharge and £85 costs.