A WOMAN darts player was caught drink driving minutes after she drove away from a Carlisle social club where she had been playing in a match.

Cotehill woman Lynda Atkins, 58, who has never been before a court before, pleaded guilty to the offence when she appeared at the city’s Rickergate court.

Prosecutor George Shelley described what happened.

He said police spotted the defendant after she walked out of the South End Constitutional Club at St Nicholas Street in Carlisle on January 29 and drove away in her Ford Fiesta, heading along London Road.

A breath test confirmed that she has 58mcg of alcohol in every 100mls of breath. The legal limit for driving is 35mcg.

She had no previous convictions, said Mr Shelley.

Duncan Campbell, for Atkins, said the defendant at the time had been going through a particularly difficult period in her life, which included her and her long-term partner separating.

“She enjoys playing darts,” said Mr Campbell.

“She is in more than one team and on this particular occasion she had attended the club and parked there and had a drink – a pint of lager, and then one or two mouthfuls of another [pint]. She didn’t have anything more to drink.”

The lawyer said Atkins noticed her drink had tasted “sweeter than normal" and that, unless it was “super strength,” it should not have put her over the limit.

The defendant had wondered, said Mr Campbell, whether somebody had interfered with her drink while she was playing darts.

“It’s a possibility – but not something she would be able to prove to the required standard,” said the lawyer.

He added that the loss of her driving licence would have large impact as Atkins needed to drive for her work, which included doing shopping for people with disabilities.

Mr Campbell added that there had been no concern expressed about the defendant’s driving. Magistrates imposed a £333 fine, with a £133 surcharge and £85 costs.

They banned Atkins for 12 months but offered her the drink driver rehabilitation course, which if completed by a deadline will reduce the length of the disqualification by three months.