TWO friends from Barrow were caught drink driving after leaving the same pub, both with child passengers in their cars.

Karen White, 46, of Gateshead Street, Barrow, and Sarah Griffin, 32, of Longreins Road, Barrow, pleaded guilty to driving a car when above the alcohol level in Derby Street and Roose Road respectively on Sunday August 21.

READ MORE: Barrow gin driver 'mortified' at her actions

Furness Magistrates' Court was told the pair had spent the evening out drinking in a pub and were driving home between 11pm and 11.30pm when police were called about two car crashes.

Mr Lee Dacre, prosecuting, said White was seen to crash her Toyota Yaris into a parked vehicle and, after hearing the commotion, the owner witnessed her drive off, with her seven-year-old child, "visibly distressed".

She was found by police at home and a breath test found she was more than double the legal limit, with 94 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Griffin was spotted at the wheel of a Ford Mondeo after colliding with a parked car. She was seen trying to restart the car.

Mr Dacre said her five-year-old son, who had been at the pub with his mother, was a passenger, complained of a sore neck, after police were called to the scene.

A breathalyser recorded 96 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

The court was told the incident was out of character for both women, with neither having a drink problem.

Mr Trystan Roberts represented both defendants in court.

In mitigation for White, who works as a housekeeper, he said: "She's finished work and sat down with others and has enjoyed drinking and then made a silly decision, having not felt intoxicated and properly able to drive.

"Miss White pleads guilty at the very first opportunity and again bitterly regrets it and is frightened what might have happened to her daughter and other people."

In mitigation for Griffin, he said: "She is absolutely disgusted by her behaviour. She shows an enormous amount of remorse.

"She bought herself half a pint knowing she would go home later. She had a pint bought for her. She relaxed. She felt de-stressed. She had continued to drink and she accepts that she had drunk too much.

"She accepts she made a silly decision."

Both women were disqualified from driving for 25 months and ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work, pay £85 court costs and a £85 victim surcharge.

They can both attend a drink drive awareness and reduce their ban by 25 weeks.