A FIVE-times-the-limit drunk driving offender has been whacked with a £1,000 fine and warned she'll be jailed if she does it again.

Karin Alexander was found to have 111 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath after police stopped her in Greenock.

A sheriff described the booze reading as 'extremely high' and told 27-year-old Alexander she put the public and herself at risk'.

Defence lawyer David Tod said his client had 'considerable health difficulties', arguing: "What she did can be described as an inappropriate coping strategy."

Mr Tod told the town's sheriff court: "We simply have a young woman who was driven beyond her forbearance by the health difficulties she's had.

"The fact is she is simply not fit to drink."

Officers pulled over Alexander's Mazda 2 on the afternoon of September 19 after noticing that she'd driven off from traffic lights on Brougham Street 'at a very slow speed'.

Prosecutor David Glancy said: "The car's internal light was on as one of its doors was ajar and she appeared unaware of this.

"Police could immediately smell alcohol from her.

"She co-operated fully with breathalyser procedures and when cautioned and charged she replied, 'I'm sorry'."

Solicitor Mr Tod said: "There are no issues with alcohol which require to be addressed.

"She has found the process of appearing in court particularly traumatic but she accepts it had to happen.

"She is not self-pitying."

Sheriff Andrew McIntyre told Alexander: "I've looked carefully at the whole circumstances here.

"You have very significant health problems and I take that into account, as well as the fact that you pleaded guilty at an early stage.

"I must balance that with the fact that this is an extremely high reading and you really put the public, and yourself, at risk by taking that amount of alcohol and then driving.

"If there is any repetition, and whilst I am sympathetic to your physical health, it will not save you from prison."

As well as the £1,000 fine, Alexander, of Cardwell Road in, Gourock, has been banned from driving for 16 months.

She has been allowed leave to take part in a drink-drive rehabilitation course, which will reduce the disqualification period to 12 months if successfully completed.