A mum-of-three has been fined and banned from driving after crashing her car in Irvine while more than three times the alcohol limit.

Lisa Thomas apologised to police officers after she was caught drink driving on September 18 this year.

At Kilmarnock Sheriff Court last week, the 33-year-old pleaded guilty to a single charge of being behind the wheel of the vehicle in the town's Towerlands Road after consuming so much alcohol that the proportion of it in her blood was 73mcg/100ml of blood, exceeding the legal limit of 22mcg/100ml.

Procurator fiscal depute Alison McFadyen told Thursday's (October 27) hearing that police responded to an accident on Towerlands Road shortly before midnight, and found the vehicle parked on a grass verge with extensive damage.

Thomas was found in the back of the vehicle and told police it was her who had been driving.

Ms McFadyen said: "She was unsteady on her feet and smelled of alcohol.

"She failed a roadside breath test and was taken to Saltcoats police office.

"She was cautioned and charged and replied saying she was sorry."

Defence solicitor Scott McLatchie said Thomas, who has no previous convictions, had been at a pub in Dreghorn with her husband on the night of the incident.

Mr McLatchie said: "She decided to move the car to her mother's house in Springside as they thought it would be damaged if they left it outside the pub.

"She is entirely remorseful and apologises to other road users for the risk caused."

Thomas, of Woodfoot Road in Hamilton, was disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined £420.

Sheriff Murdoch MacTaggart told her that if she completes a drink driving rehabilitation course before the end of May 2023 the driving ban will be reduced by three months.