A 45-year-old woman who failed a breathalyser test after drinking three small bottles of a health tonic has been banned from driving for three years.

And Sally Ann Billington, of Sangara Drive, Lower Darwen, who drove into the back of a stationary bus at midday and was later found to have an alcohol level more than three times the legal limit, has warned other drivers to beware.

As a result of the driving ban, Billington has lost her job as a house-buyer for Burnley property firm Manorcliff and says she now faces an uncertain financial future.

Blackburn magistrates heard an expert had attributed the high reading almost entirely to the tincture' she had bought off the shelf at Boots that morning and which contained 55 per cent alcohol.

The mother-of-four said: "I know I should have read the label but you don't expect to get drunk off something you have bought at Boots.

"There was no warning on the bottle just small print at the bottom of the label which gave the alcohol level and I didn't read that far.

"My mum had recommended Milk Thistle to me because it had helped my brother when he was dying of cancer and I thought it was just a tonic.

"I remember thinking I felt good after drinking the first one and now I know why.

"I have to accept that I was over the limit, that is the law, but I can't help feeling bitter about the lack of warning on the label about what I was drinking, "I only drink on special occasions and then not much.

"I would never have put my job and my future at risk If I had known what I was drinking I would not have been driving.

"I ended up in hospital and have lost my job but I could have killed someone driving in that state and I knew nothing about it."

Billington pleaded guilty at Blackburn magistrates to driving with excess alcohol. She gave a reading in 100ml urine of 327 milligrammes against the legal limit of 107 milligrammes. And as well as the three-year ban she was made subject to community supervision for six months and ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work and pay £364 costs.

Andrew Church-Taylor, defending, said: "It is very important that it is made clear that an expert who prepared a report is adamant that if Mrs Billington had not consumed the Milk Thistle she would not have been over the limit.

"She unknowingly drank what is in fact an extremely strong drink."

A spokesman for Boots has defended the sale of the tonic by declaring that the packaging on the bottle was clear.