A mother from Carlisle whose bad driving led to her being caught while drink driving had her 18-month old daughter in the car with her, a court heard.

Cheryl-Ann Reed, 29, first came to the attention of the police on August 19 when she was seen speeding along Ullswater Road in Penrith in her Honda Civic car before she headed for the M6 motorway while still driving badly.

She admitted drink driving.

John Moran, prosecuting at Carlisle’s Rickergate Magistrates’ Court, said police decided to follow the defendant’s car after seeing her drive ‘at speed’ westwards along Ullswater Road. She then drove through red traffic lights.

As she joined a roundabout her car was seen getting close to a HGV and as a result having to brake heavily to avoid a collision.

Mr Moran said: “There was no actual collision but that standard of driving continued and police considered it amounted to a [careless] standard.”

As a result, the defendant was stopped and breathalysed. The reading was 65mcg in 100mls of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg. When police checked the car, they discovered that the defendant’s baby daughter was asleep in the rear in a car seat.

Reed told police she had been drinking at home but had fancied a drive.

Mark Shepherd, for Reed, of Woodsghyll Drive, Carlisle, said the defendant had learned from her mistake and made a clean breast of things by admitting her guilt.

Her difficulties had stemmed from a relationship breakdown and she had recently split from her partner, said the lawyer.

Of the offence, the lawyer said: “She is not wholly selfish. It was a bad decision made on this night. Fortunately, nothing serious happened.”

Since the incident, Reed had abstained from cannabis and reduced her alcohol consumption, which she said was not really excessive. District Judge Gerald Chalk told the defendant: “This was a serious matter because you created risk for yourself and for other road users; in this case your own child."

He fined her £130, with £85 costs and a £34 victim surcharge. The judge also imposed a 20-month driving ban but he offered Reed a drink-driver rehabilitation course, which will reduce her ban by a quarter if completed in time.