A MUM who hit a parked car while three times the drink drive limit was told she had narrowly avoided jail.

Burnley magistrates heard Claire Elizabeth Moroney, 32, had drunk a bottle of wine after being told her ex-partner was seeing another woman while with her. She had then gone for a drive.

Deputy District Judge Fowler told Moroney -- a mother of two who works for Lancashire County Council with people with challenging behaviour -- her actions could have led to serious injury or even death.

The judge said she could have gone to prison if anybody had been hurt but her job was of value to the community and her behaviour had been out of character.

Moroney, of Barkerhouse Road, Nelson, admitted driving with excess alcohol on February 11. She was given 60 hours community punishment, banned from the roads for two years and told to pay £60 costs.

Julie Reddish, prosecuting, told the court that police officers found Moroney sitting in her car after the accident. She told officers her mobile had rung and she had been trying to find it when she hit the car.

The defendant was asked if she had been drinking in the last 24 hours and said she had drunk a glass of wine.

She gave a positive breath test and later gave a reading of 256 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, with the legal limit just 80.

David Lawson, defending, said Moroney had no previous convictions and, at the time, had been under emotional stress.

The defendant had recently spilt up with her long-term partner and had been out with a friend and had a glass of wine. Her friend had told her the bad news about her ex and had tipped her over the edge.