A mum-of-two caught drink driving after pals tipped off police about her 3am session today admits: "I made a mistake."
Ashley Hendrie got behind the wheel later that day and officers were waiting for her at her home in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, when she returned.
The 26-year-old believed the alcohol would have cleared out of her system but a breath test revealed that she had 85mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.
She now has admitted she made a mistake and said she did not realise the alcohol would still be in her system later that day.
According to the NHS it takes about one hour on average for your body to break down one unit of alcohol, however, this can vary depending on your weight, your gender, age, the strength of alcohol and how much food you have eaten.
She told The Sun : "I made a mistake by not realising I would still be over the limit in the afternoon.
"I’d had nothing to eat that morning and the alcohol was still in my body.
"I’m not the first to be caught out being over the limit the day after a big night out."
A court heard that she appeared to be tired and with slurred speech on June 24, reports Grimsby Live .
In court, Hendrie admitted drink-driving.
Ernie Lidster, mitigating, said the mum acted out of character after suffering difficulties the night before and it was an "error of judgement on her part".
Mr Lidster said: "She had been drinking wine to excess until 3am but by the time she drove in the afternoon, she thought she would be clear of alcohol.
"She went to places in the morning by taxi but she thought that by the time it came to the afternoon, she would be clear but, unfortunately, that was not the case.
"It appears that the person who was drinking with her made the complaint to the police that she was driving under the influence.
"The police were waiting for her to return home."
Kate Fairburn, prosecuting, told Grimsby Magistrates' Court that police saw her drive and she approached them and suggested that she had been drinking and might still be over the limit.
She told them she had been drinking until 3am.
District judge Daniel Curtis told Hendrie: "It would have been much more sensible for you not to have driven until the following day."
Unemployed Hendrie was fined £250, was banned from driving for 20 months and was ordered to pay £85 costs and a Government-imposed £30 victim's surcharge.