A SINGER found drunk in her car had secretly been nipping out to drink vodka out of sight of her mother, Burnley magistrates heard.

Clare Eccleston, 33, was found in the vehicle after police attended a report of a drunken woman trying to drive a car in Hapton.

The keys were on the seat, Eccleston would not provide oficers with her details, the car was registered to a man in Burnley and there was no female on the insurance.

The defendant was arrested and when taken to the police station would not provide a breath test.

Eccleston, then of Sheep Gate Drive, Tottington, but whose latest address was not revealed, admitted failing to provide a specimen on June 16.

She was spared a ban after the bench said there was no evidence that she was driving or tried to drive. She was given 10 penalty points and a 12- month conditional discharge with £65 costs.

David Leach, defending, said Eccleston accepted that when police arrived she was very drunk and emotional. She had just separated from her partner and found things very traumatic.

The keys were not in the ignition and the defendant had no reason to leave that address. She was staying there and her daughter was there.

Eccleston had been to a nearby club with her father, got back to the house and carried on drinking.

She kept the vodka in the car because her mother was in the house and would go out for a drink and a cigarette.