A DRUNK driver who was three times over the limit crashed into another car as she tried to put her shoe on.

Terri Bailey has been spared jail after causing serious injuries to two women who were travelling through Hawkwell after a night of bingo.

The 35-year-old of Sandon Close, Rochford, had been drinking with friends on August 11 last year, consuming four glasses of gin and soda water before getting in her Fiat 500 to drive home.

She was travelling on Main Road, Hawkwell at 9.50pm when she approached a left-hand bend, lost control and crashed into another car in the opposite lane.

Two sisters were in the other car - which deployed its airbags and filled with smoke on impact.

One managed to crawl out of the car in considerable pain before lying on the roadside.

All three women were taken to hospital before police carried out a breath test on Bailey, who was found to have 92 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, almost three times the legal limit of 35 micrograms.

She told police that the crash happened after she tried to put her shoe on properly.

She admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving and was given a suspended prison sentence at Basildon Crown Court on Monday.

The court heard that one of the victims has since been suffering from severe back pain and the crash has resulted in her arthritis getting worse.

The woman said she “feels emotional” constantly and has flashbacks to the crash, and neither woman are brave enough to return to where it happened, and that the crash replays in their minds when they try to sleep each night.

Mitigation for Bailey said she was “tremendously embarrassed” and is now “terrified” of driving and has not driven a car since.

The court heard that she is the sole carer for her two young daughters.

Bailey received an eight month suspended prison sentence, 200 hours unpaid work and a three month curfew from 7pm to 6am.

Judge Andrew Hurst told her: “It’s a great shame none of your friends stopped you from driving away.

“This is purely for the interests of your children that you are not going through that door and you will see them again.”