A FISH and chip shop owner allegedly caught drink-driving when her Lexus rolled into the front of a bus in Bournemouth has been barred from the roads for more than a year and a half.

As reported in the Daily Echo, Sarah Chambi was arrested on the afternoon of Thursday, May 24 after a collision in Exeter Road.

Members of the public contacted police after the car driven by the 38-year-old, who was visiting Bournemouth from her home in West Yorkshire, was spotted "swerving from one side of the road to the other" in an "erratic way".

When the defendant stopped the car, it rolled into a Yellow Bus which had pulled up behind.

Officers allegedly carried out a roadside breath test, which showed she was over the drink-drive limit, a court heard.

Chambi was taken to the police station, where she failed to complete a further breath test. However, prosecutors at Poole Magistrates' Court claimed the partial sample showed a reading of 117 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath - almost 3.5 times the limit.

The defendant, of Hindley Road in Liversedge, admitted failing to provide a specimen of breath the day after her arrest. On Friday, she returned to the court, where she was sentenced to a community order and told she must participate in a programme for alcohol dependency for six months and comply with the terms of a rehabilitation activity requirement for a maximum of 10 days.

In addition, Chambi was fined £500 and ordered to pay £85 costs and an £85 surcharge, and then disqualified from driving for 20 months.

The defendant, who has "never been in trouble before", was in rehab for her drinking, the court heard. She had not had anything to drink for three months before the crash, but then relapsed, it was heard.