A woman seen swerving across lanes of a motorway and stopping on the hard shoulder late one night, was found to be almost three times the legal drink-drive limit.

Charley Stillwell from Rochester was at the wheel of her black Volkswagen Beetle when she was spotted speeding and swerving across lanes of the M2 by police on patrol.

Officers followed her and saw her swerving from lane four to lane three at inconsistent speeds and then they witnessed her stopping on the hard shoulder for a short period, before she drove off again towards her home.

Officers suspected the 30-year-old may have been under the influence of something and followed her from the motorway to The Tideway in Rochester, where she was stopped and asked to do a roadside breath test.

Stillwell failed the test and was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving and further tests at the police station gave a reading of 95 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit is 35.

She was charged with drink-driving and appeared before magistrates in Medway on January 2, where she pleaded guilty to the offence.

The court heard the incident happened late at night on December 13 and Stillwell, of Catherine Street, had never been in trouble with the law before.

Charlotte Frost, prosecuting, told the court the alcohol reading was high and that sentencing guidelines indicated a community order as well as a ban as a way of punishment.

She added: “At one point she even stopped on the hard shoulder and when stopped she failed the roadside breath test and gave two more readings and blew 95, that’s almost three times the legal limit.”

Magistrates decided to adjourn sentencing so probation could carry out a pre-sentencing report on Stillwell, as the bench was told she did suffer with some mental health issues.

They told her she was looking at being disqualified from driving for probably at least 23 months and told her to cooperate with probation officers to allow them to carry out the report.

They also placed Stillwell on an interim driving ban until she is sentenced at Maidstone Magistrates’ Court on February 8.

She was granted bail until then.