An Onchan motorist had a memorable 63rd birthday for all the wrong reasons, a court has heard.

Judith Mary Davis had been drinking wine with a friend before deciding to drive around a quarter of a mile from her home at The Park to the Spar shop in Port Jack to buy cigarettes.

With surprising candour, she told the shop assistant: ’It’s my birthday and I’m drunk,’ before going, taking a loaf of bread with her but leaving the cigarettes behind.

For the prosecution, Michael Jelski said the assistant ran after her with the cigarettes and found her sitting in the driver’s seat of a purple Vauxhall Viva.

A discussion followed and Davis agreed not to drive, opting to walk home instead. But a short time later the assistant noticed the car had gone, so the police were called.

When they arrived at her home address, they found the car parked at the back of the house.

Police arrested her for drink driving and she provided a breath sample with a reading of 54, considerably above the legal drink drive limit of 35.

She told police: ’I only wanted some cigarettes. I shouldn’t have driven to the shop, that’s for sure.’

She admitted drinking half a bottle of wine followed by a third of a bottle of wine during the course of the afternoon. She told police she did not normally drink and indeed had drunk nothing since 2014, and she could not explain why she opted to drive to the shop.

Defending her, Ian Kermode reiterated Davis had not drunk for three years until a friend arrived on her birthday with wine.

’She decided to drink to celebrate her birthday then she drove to the Spar shop, just a few hundred yards away.

’Despite the assistant coming out and advising her not to drive, after walking a few yards up the hill she returned and drove home.

’It was a short distance but she accepts it was a stupid thing to do.

’She made a calamitous decision to return to her car and she understands that the minimum ban is two years,’ he said, adding she suffered from asthma and obstructive pulmonary disorder.

Passing sentence, magistrates’ chairman Carol Maddrell told her: ’This was a serious lapse of judgement.’

She was fined £500 and pays costs of £125.

She was banned from driving for two years at the end of which she must pass an extended driving test.