A WOMAN found asleep in her car attempting to sleep off the effects of alcohol has been banned from driving.

Rachel Stewart Irvine, 40, has been out after work for a meal and drinks with friends after what she thought was her last day at her job in London.

After getting the train back to Witham, she attempted to drive back home but realised she was struggling to concentrate and pulled over at the Cressing Service Station on Braintree Road to try and sleep.

Stewart Irvine was only found by police because her husband noticed she had stopped moving on a movement tracker app the couple use, and called the police because he was concerned for her safety.

When officers found her she was sleeping in the car with the seat reclined.

Her breath reading came back as 54 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Kate Armstrong, said: “I have never seen anyone quite so scared as she was in the police interview.

“She almost cannot believe what she has done.

“This is not someone who goes out drinking and driving all the time.

"She knows it was a terrible mistake."

Stewart Irvine, of Millers Drive, Great Notley, admitted drink driving at the incident which occurred on August 26 when she appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court and was banned from getting behind the wheel for 13 months.

She was fined £530, ordered to pay a £53 victim surcharge and £85 costs.