A DRINK-driver is banned from the road for 40 months today after her car careered into a ditch when she was nearly three times the legal alcohol limit.

South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court in Ipswich heard the A12 crash was the second time Corrine Williams had been caught drink-driving.

The accident occurred on the Colchester-bound carriageway at East Bergholt at around 6.30pm on July 19.

The court heard Williams, of De Grey Road, Colchester, clipped the central reservation barrier, before veering across the road and into a ditch.

A subsequent breath test taken after the 26-year-old’s arrest showed she had 103 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg.

During a police interview, Williams told officers she had been at a friend’s home and had consumed three or four rum and cokes between noon and 5pm on the day of the accident.

A probation officer addressed the court after compiling a report on Williams following her guilty plea at an earlier hearing to driving with excess alcohol.

The court heard Williams had been driving home when the crash occurred. She had been in the fast lane when a car came up very close to the rear of her black Ford Focus.

As Williams attempted to move across to the inside lane, she over-steered, as she was worried about the vehicle behind her. Williams lost control of her car, skidded and ended up in a ditch.

Williams was said to have suffered issues involving her mental health which began in 2003.

In 2004 she was disqualified from driving for 16 months after being caught drink-driving.

Sentencing Williams for the latest offence, district judge Celia Dawson said: “This was an extremely high reading. You should have been aware of the seriousness of what you were doing.”

In addition to her driving ban, Williams was ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work in the community and pay �85 prosecution costs.