A MOTORIST who took her date’s car to avoid a drunken ‘walk of shame’ has been back in trouble while behind the wheel.

Natalie Kopman hit the headlines four years ago when she took her lover’s BMW from his Stockport pad, so she could drive home after spending the night.

But Kopman inexplicably ended up in Burnley after giving a lift to two men in Manchester city centre, magistrates heard at the time.

She was given a suspended prison sentence after being pulled over on a petrol station forecourt while more than three times the drink-driving limit.

She claimed she had ‘borrowed’ Alan Shaw’s car to get home. The pair had met earlier that night in a bar on Oldham Street, Manchester.

Before that incident, she had called in sick at work after falling out of a tree, the court heard.

Kopman has now met a similar fate after a Volkswagen Crafter she was driving smashed into a garden wall in Heywood Street, Radcliffe, on June 23.

Magistrates in Manchester were told that the now 35-year-old was detained some time after the June 23 collision. Later it emerged she was twice the drink-driving limit.

Kopman, of Hillside Close, Ramsbottom, pleaded guilty to unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, driving with excess alcohol, having no driving licence or insurance, and failing to stop after the accident.

She was given a 12-week prison term on this occasion, suspended for 18 months, after magistrates took account of the seriousness of the offence and her past record.

Kopman was banned from driving for three years and as part of 12 months probation supervision she must undertake an alcohol treatment programme and complete 10 days of rehabilitation activities. She must also pay £200 in compensation for the damage to the wall.