A MUM who crashed on the motorway with her two young children in the car - while she was four-and-a-half times the drink drive limit - has been jailed for three months.

Nicola Dixon, 29, drove 'erratically' for 45 minutes before hitting a central barrier of the M6 and veering across three lanes.

Magistrate Helen Jarman also banned Dixon from driving for four years and told her: "We are duty bound to protect the public.

"It must be immediate custody. We think there is no other way to deal with you."

Dixon, of Warwick Road, Cadishead, Salford, pleaded guilty when she appeared before Macclesfield magistrates to answer drink-driving charges.

Alcohol

Joe O'Connor, defending, said Dixon was an 'intelligent' woman who had become an alcoholic after a relationship breakdown.

She had drunk two large cans of strong cider the morning of the accident which happened just after 6pm.

Her children - aged six and nine - were not injured apart from `one small graze' after the collision and both were in child seats with safety holsters. Debbie Byrne, prosecuting, said police received four calls reporting a Peugeot 206 being driven erratically on the M6 southbound at junctions 18 to 21.

Miss Byrne said: "At 6.27pm police attended a road traffic accident on the M6. It appeared that the vehicle had collided with the barrier then veered across three lanes, coming to a stop on the hard shoulder.

"On board the vehicle was the defendant, who was driving at the time of the collision, and her two young children. None of them were injured.

Confession

"The defendant later admitted she was the driver at the time of the collision. She further stated that she had been drinking heavily the night before.

"When asked if she thought she was fit to drive she said she thought she was okay. She appeared upset by her actions, namely putting her children in the car and endangering their lives."

Dixon, who has started a course at Alcoholics Anonymous, had an alcohol reading of 158 micrograms - four-and-a-half times the legal limit of 35 micrograms. Mr O'Connor said Dixon was a catering assistant in a kitchen.

He said: "This defendant appears to have a history of alcohol addiction that started from a domestic situation.

"She's clearly a woman of some intelligence and has completed GCSEs and A-levels."

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