A MUM who failed to give an adequate breath sample after abandoning her car in the street just yards from her house, has been banned from driving.

Claire Cole admitted to a charge of failing to provide a specimen for analysis – after officers found her smelling “heavily of alcohol” – when appearing before magistrates on Thursday.

The court heard the 49-year-old had been drinking wine at her home on St Stephens Street, Worcester, with a friend before attempting to drive her car on February 26.

Kerri Lovegrove, prosecuting, said when officers attempted to breathalyse the defendant at the roadside, “rather than blowing air into the tube, she was sucking air out”.

Mrs Lovegrove said Cole was taken to the police station, where she again failed to provide sufficient samples, “saying she wanted to return home to her children”.

The prosecutor described the failed attempts as “deliberate refusal” and said the defendant had been going to “collect a child from school” at the time.

However, Mr Kebble, defending, said this was not the case and that Cole had made “arrangements with her estranged husband to collect the child from school”.

He said his client was actually going to collect some dry cleaning, before quickly realising she was too drunk to drive.

The solicitor said Cole “drove no more than three car lengths before reality struck home and she realised she was intoxicated and should not have been driving”.

He said Cole then attempted to reverse her car back towards her home but “another car came behind her, blocking her from doing this”.

Another car then came in the other direction and so the defendant attempted to pull into the side of the road, before getting out of the car, said Mr Kebble.

Police found Cole inside a nearby estate agents, employees of whom Mr Kebble believes then called the police.

He denied that his client did not co-operate with officers and said she made four attempts at the station to provide a sample “but clearly it was insufficient”.

“This is a case that is not a deliberate failure or a deliberate refusal.”

Mr Kebble said she was under a lot of stress due to going through a divorce and was on antibiotics in relation to a chest infection.

The court also heard that Cole recently lost two uncles in quick succession and a cousin died of cancer two days after diagnosis in January.

Cole was disqualified from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay a total of £667 in fines and costs.