A 44-YEAR-OLD Clitheroe woman refused to give a breath sample to police after she crashed her car into two vehicles in the town late at night.

Blackburn magistrates heard that a man walking his dog saw Carol Ann Reilly "slumped" over the steering wheel as she veered from one side of the road to the other. She collided with a parked car and then mounted the kerb before going on to collide head-on with a van.

Neil White, prosecuting, said that when asked by the van driver "what the hell" she was doing, Reilly muttered something about being a care worker and going to put someone to bed.

When police arrived they could smell alcohol on her breath but she refused to give a breath sample.

Reilly, of Riverside, Clitheroe, pleaded guilty to driving without due care, failing to stop after an accident and failing to provide a specimen. She was made subject to a community rehabilitation order for six months, disqualified from driving for eighteen months and ordered to pay £75 costs.

Richard Prew, defending, said the incident was the culmination of a dreadful 12 months for his client. He said she was going through a divorce, her house was going to be sold and she was on anti-depressants.

"She is adamant she had not been drinking that night although I accept that is in direct conflict with what the officers could smell," said Mr Prew. He said Reilly was alone in the house and things had got on top of her.

"She went out for a drive to clear her head but she must accept that her driving was not good," he said.

Mr Prew said Reilly is employed as a community care worker and had told her employers of her predicament.