A DRIVER who was struggling with the menopause was so drunk when she was stopped by police that she almost fell into the carriageway.

Rebecca Clarke was nearly four times the legal drink drive limit when she was pulled over and breathalysed last month.

She had shared four bottles of wine with a friend when she decided to drive from Exeter to see her partner 16 miles away in Kingsteignton.

Police saw her driving erratically on the A380 on Telegraph Hill near Exeter and when she was stopped she ‘almost fell into the carriageway’ as she stumbled out of her Vauxhall Astra car.

She blew 134 microgrammes of alcohol in her breath,  the legal limit being just 35mg.

Clarke, aged 48, of Haddeo Drive, Exeter, admitted drink driving and was fined £2,292 and banned from driving for 33 months by Exeter magistrates court.

The magistrate said:”That level of alcohol on your breath was very, very high, it was a very serious offence.”

Miss Lisa McCarthy, defending, said she was arrested and spent 12 hours in a police cell and had found it ‘extremely traumatic’. She said Clarke was suffering badly with the menopause at the time.

A probation report said the 48 year old was receiving HRT treatment for the severe symptoms of menopause and Clarke told the court she was full of remorse and embarrassed by what happened.

She has been a paralegal for an Exeter law firm for 30 years and had sold her car following this incident.