Woman caught behind wheel of Audi after crash had been 'topping up' on drink after boozing the night before

A woman caught behind the wheel of her Audi after a crash had spent the afternoon 'topping up' on drink having boozed with a pal the night before.

Nicola Speak, 47, was more than three times the drink drive limit when she was stopped in her Audi A3 by an off-duty police officer on December 15 last year.

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Manchester Magistrates' Court heard the cop stopped at a set of traffic lights before seeing Speak turning 'overly wide' around a corner onto Captains Clough Road, Bolton, at around 3.40pm.

Her car then hit a green Mini Cooper.

Police found Speak behind the wheel, who appeared to be ‘confused’.

She was breathalysed and blew a reading of 120 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Peter Conrad, prosecuting, said: “On the 15th of December an off duty police officer, a Ms Jones, was in her own vehicle and had stopped a set of traffic lights.

“She saw an oncoming silver Audi which turned very widely onto Captains Clough Road.

“It then collided with a green mini cooper.

“Ms Jones got out and checked if everyone was okay. She went over to the Audi, opened the driver door and Ms Speak was very confused.”

The court heard Speak had relapsed into using alcohol prior to the incident.

The night before, she had been drinking with friends and had spent the following afternoon drinking with another friend ‘topping up’.

She plead guilty to driving a motor vehicle with an alcohol level above the limit at an earlier hearing.

Defending, David O’Reilly said Speak was ‘extremely remorseful’ for her actions, which she ‘knew [were] very wrong’.

He said: “Ms Speak has been facing problems over recent times.

“She had