A 71-YEAR-OLD woman was more than three times over the limit when she hit the kerb of a roundabout and then smashed into a van.

The collision occurred just before mid-day and the pensioner said she had been drinking the night before.

Marjorie Pooley, of Inchmickery Road, Dalgety Bay, appeared in the dock at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

She admitted that on October 14, in Western Access Road, Dalgety Bay, she drove a car having consumed excess alcohol. Her reading was 156 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, the legal limit being 50 milligrammes.

Depute fiscal Azrah Yousaf said that at 11.40am, a female witness saw the car being driven by Pooley going too fast to negotiate a roundabout.

“She hit the kerb and stayed up on it as she went around before losing control and going over into the opposite carriageway,” the depute continued.

“She then swerved back and collided with a parked Ford Transit van, forcing it forward into another parked vehicle.”

She stayed in her vehicle and the police were contacted. She was taken to the Victoria Hospital for a check-up as a precaution.

Defence solicitor Sarah Meehan said: “My client is a first offender and has held a driving licence for 42 years with no blemish on it until now. It’s highly unfortunate that she finds herself in this situation.”

She added that her client had been drinking to deal with the stress of being a carer for her husband.

“She had been drinking the previous evening into the early hours. Her vehicle was a write-off and she has no intention of ever driving again such is the fright she’s given herself.”

Sheriff Alison McKay said: “It’s a high reading from the night before.”

She told Pooley: “While I appreciate you got a fright, you put other road users at risk.”

She disqualified Pooley for two years and fined her £600.