A MOTHER-of-four ended up on a drink-driving charge - after taking a herbal remedy which had a 55 per cent alcohol content.

Sally Ann Billington, 45, from Lower Darwen, now faces losing her job at a Burnley property firm after pleading guilty to driving three times over the limit.

She had no idea the £5.99 50ml bottles of Boots' Milk Thistle Tincture contained such a high concentration of alcohol, Blackburn magistrates heard.

Mrs Billington crashed her car into the back of a stationary bus after drinking three bottles of the cure.

The bottle states one to two millilitres should be drunk in liquid three times a day - about a tenth of the bottle at the most. But Mrs Billington said the alcohol content should be made clearer as it was only in the small print.

However Boots said the packaging was clear - and the UK's medicine regulator backed the company's view.

Speaking after the hearing Mrs Billington, of Sangara Drive, Lower Darwen, said: "I know I should have read the label but you don't expect to get drunk off something you have bought at Boots. A 10-year-old child could buy it, is there on the shelf. I think you should be over 18 to buy it and perhaps a stronger warning should be on the bottle telling people it has alcoholic content."

The court was told, Mrs Billington was sent home from Burnley property firm Manorcliff, where she is a home buyer, after drinking the three bottles and feeling "dizzy" on February 15.

She was on her way home when the crash happened, on Stopes Brow, Lower Darwen.

She broke the ball joint in her shoulder and needed 30 shoulder staples. At the hospital she gave a urine sample which revealed a reading of 327 against the legal limit of 107.

She said she had been taking the tonic - which she bought at Boots in Blackburn - for four years and it helped her when she felt "down".

Solicitor, Andrew Church-Taylor, said: "It is important it is made clear that an expert who prepared a report is adamant that if Mrs Billington had not taken the Milk Thistle she would not have been over the limit."

She will be sentenced next week.

Rick Jones, departmental manager at Manorcliff, Albion Street, said: "Her job does rely on a licence so if it isn't a reversible situation then, without a shadow of a doubt, her job would be in jeopardy."

But Boots had not broken any laws, said Sara Coakley of The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.

She said: "It clearly states what the instructions are for use and that there is alcohol in it."

A statement from Boots said the alcohol content was "clearly stated" on the packaging.

It said: "We label our products with instructions on how the product should be taken for health reasons and if the correct instructions are adhered to there should be no problem."

The bottle also states that it should be kept "out of sight and reach of children" and was "not suitable for children under 12".