A WOMAN who was caught driving while almost double the limit has blamed it on not knowing how strong a fruit cider was that tasted like 'pop'.

Josie Wilks had attended a barbecue in Bewdley when she was stopped by police in Load Street who arrested her for being driving while over the alcohol limit.

Owen Beale, prosecuting, said: "Officers were in Bewdley. They saw her [Wilks'] vehicle cutting across hatch marks and marking a couple of turns without indicating.

"When they stopped to speak to her it was clear she had been drinking. She failed the roadside breath test."

The 30-year-old was then taken to the police station where she gave another breath test and provided a reading of 62 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath - the legal limit being 35mcg in 100ml.

In mitigation, Fergus Maxwell said Wilks, who has held a driving license for 12-and-a-half years, had been drinking an "unfamiliar" drink and had not anticipated how strong it was.

He said: "She [Wilks] had been invited to a family member's house in Comberton. They were having a barbecue and she was drinking a fruit cider that was unfamiliar to her that tasted like pop and didn't appreciate the strength of it."

Wilks, of Alveley, Bridgnorth, pleaded guilty to driving while over the limit when she appeared at Kidderminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday, June 25.

Chairman of the magistrates Sue Roberts disqualified Wilks from driving for 17 months with the option to reduce that ban by 25 per cent by taking a drink-drive rehabilitation course.

She said: "It was a very high reading. That stuff was a lot stronger than you imagined."

She also ordered Wilks to pay a £110 fine, a £20 victim surcharge, £85 in court costs, and a £150 court charge.