A WORKER at a five-star Lake District hotel has been banned from driving after admitting failing to provide a specimen for analysis.

Hannah Downie caught the attention of police after a car was seen stuck on a grass verge on Windermere Road in Kendal on February 1, South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court was told.

Prosecutor Lee Dacre said police found a bottle of gin with a third of the contents remaining when they went to check on the defendant, of Stramongate in Kendal, in her vehicle.

They asked her to provide a roadside breath test but the defendant declined and said she was not able to because she had a neurological disorder, the court heard.

Mr Dacre told the court this was not a valid reason for not providing a sample of breath.   

Andrew Gallagher, representing Downie, said she had not gone out deliberately in her car to drink.

He said: “She works in Windermere at a five-star hotel in a customer-facing role. She had arranged to go out with some friends and was supposed to be staying over at one of their houses.

“Unfortunately, the defendant recently came out of an abusive relationship. Whilst the defendant was either out or going back to her friend’s address, her former partner turned up and she decided she needed to get home.

“She says she’d only had a couple of drinks before driving. The car was stuck on the grass verge because she had pulled up to take a call from her friend who was concerned and wanted to make sure she had got home safely.

“She called the RAC and then started to drink from the bottle of gin as she waited. She accepts by the time police arrived that she would have been over the limit but we will never know if she was or not beforehand.

“She suffers from significant anxiety and a neurological disorder. She has simply panicked at the situation of being asked to provide a breath sample because she has never been in trouble with the police before."

The court heard Downie was a woman of good character prior to the offence.

Magistrates fined the 35-year-old £832 and disqualified her from driving for a period of 18 months.

She was also required to pay a £333 surcharge and £85 in court costs.