AN alcohol-related offence has cost a woman her driving licence, job and car.

Blackburn magistrates heard Sharon Kay Sharp refused to take a police station breath test after being stopped and arrested on Haslingden Road.

Margaret Duckworth, prosecuting, said a police officer saw Sharp's Vauxhall Corsa veer towards the middle of the road and back to the nearside kerb for no apparent reason.

He stopped the vehicle and could smell alcohol. The driver's speech was slurred and she was unsteady on her feet, said Mrs Duckworth.

At the police station she refused to take a breath test, was aggressive and abusive and had to be physically restrained before being placed in a cell.

Sharp, 37, of St Mary's Wharf, Blackburn, admitted failing to provide a specimen and was fined £160 with £40 costs and banned from driving for a year.

Michael Blacklidge, defending, said Sharp was a woman of good character, but as a result of the offence had lost her job as a sales representative and her car.

He said she had recently started to drink more than ususal because of personal problems. Everything had gone wrong in her life."

The solicitor said since the incident Sharp had not driven or drunk alcohol and since losing her job was "in difficult and desperate circumstances."

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