A BARMAID who fled the scene of an accident after she crashed while more than double the drink drive limit has been banned from the roads for three years.

Louise Cooper, 30, crashed her Renault Megane in Wellington Road, Brightlingsea, after she had been drinking in the early hours of the morning with a friend.

Instead of reporting the accident, Cooper panicked and went to bed at her home in Fordwich Road, Brightlingsea.

Officers traced her as the registered keeper of the vehicle after the accident and found her asleep at home.

A breathalyser test showed she had 88mcgs of alcohol per 100mls of breath in her system. The legal limit is 35.

Cooper had got home from work at a holiday camp in Weeley where she works behind the bar at roughly 3am on May 29 and went to bed, but a friend called her asking for a lift, so she got up and met her leaving her sister looking after her three sleeping children.

Once she met the friend, the pair drank two large glasses of vodka each.

Cooper admitted drink driving and leaving the scene of an accident at Colchester Magistrates' Court.

Selena Dines, mitigating said: "She gave her mate a lift.

"She had a couple of drinks because she had been having some difficulties in her long-term relationship with her partner which she was struggling with.

"She panicked and when she got home her sister told her to deal with it in the morning.

"She realises that was wrong and she had a duty to report the accident as soon as it was practical."

Cooper had a previous conviction in 2010 for failing to provide a breath specimen to police meaning magistrates had to ban her from driving for three years.

She was also fined £200 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £30 victim surcharge.