ONE drink of whisky too much cost a retired hospital cook her driving licence when she faced Hyndburn magistrates.

Pilar Ernestina Rivas, 54, of John Street, Clayton-le-Moors, was banned for 12 months, and fined £120 with £35 costs after admitting drink-driving in Whalley Road.

Christiana Buchanan, prosecuting, said Rivas was stopped at 11.30pm after police saw her Volvo 340 swerving in the carriageway, only narrowly missing parked cars. A sample showed Rivas had 87 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80.

Peter King, defending, said Rivas was only just over the limit as a result of taking one drink too much from a neighbour on what was a happy occasion of moving house.

Rivas, a Spanish national, had lived in this country for many years before going back to Spain for a time.

She has a son in Blackburn who has a severe mental illness and had resumed living here around three years ago to look after him.

Loss of her licence would make her task all the more difficult and Mr King asked the bench to impose the minimum 12-month ban.

He added that Rivas, who retired from Brockhall Hospital on ill-health grounds, suffered from severe arthritis which restricted her mobility.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.