A hospital worker who was trapped inside a car after she veered off the road closing a road for more than eight hours admitted to police she had drank alcohol before travelling from her home in the West Midlands to the Welsh coast.

Lara Constable, 43, was warned by her partner about the poor weather before she crashed the car on the A458 between Llanerfyl and Llanfair Caereinion on October 7.

She was banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay £327 in court fines and costs after pleading guilty to failing to provide a breath sample for analysis when she appeared at Welshpool Magistrates' Court.

Helen Tench, prosecuting, told the court: "Just before 7pm, police received a report that a vehicle had gone off the road one mile before Llanerfyl and a female was trapped inside but conscious. The road was shut down. She identified herself as the driver of the vehicle and was sorry and upset.

"The defendant confirmed that she had a drink before starting the journey. She did not provide adequate breath samples after three times. She said there was no medical reasons for not giving a sample. 'I didn't breathe hard enough', she told officers."

Robert Hanratty, acting for Constable, told the magistrates: "She is obviously very embarrassed and has never been in trouble in her life before. She works as an admin assistant at a hospital in the West Midlands. She did make a poor decision to drive in poor weather. Mixing alcohol raised a risk of some sort of incident.

"She was very polite with officers and grateful for their help at the roadside. She got back to the police station and did not deliberately avoid giving a breath sample. She didn't give enough breath. She knows the implications are with a driving ban."

Constable, of Springhill Road, Wolverhampton, was disqualified from driving for 12 months. She was also ordered to pay a £173 fine, £69 victim surcharge and £85 court costs. Magistrates also offered Constable to attend a drink drive awareness course to reduce the length the ban.