A Cornish bride-to-be suffering from flu was given some hot toddies by her bridesmaids – but she later crashed her car in a drink drive crash.

Catherine Reynolds struck a grass central reservation at Splatford Split near Exeter, on the main A38 dual carriageway just after midnight one evening in January.

She was arrested after blowing twice the drink drive limit – 68 mg of alcohol in her breath, Exeter Magistrates’ Court heard.

Defence lawyer Peter Woodley said: ‘She was unwell, full of flu. She is getting married later in the year and went to see some bridesmaids who gave her a couple of hot toddies.’

He said the 43-year-old, of Webbs Court, Liskeard, did not see them make the whisky-based drink and ‘did not feel the effect of the alcohol because of her cold and thought she was okay to drive’.

But she was driving the wrong way and tried to put it right and lost control and smashed her red Renault Megane into the reservation.

The full-time mother admitted drink driving and was banned for 16 months and ordered to pay £305 in fines and costs.