A DRUNKEN woman was found slumped over the steering wheel of her van as she returned from a counselling session designed to cure her of her binge drinking.

Gabriel Kroger, 46, of New Lane, Oswaldtwistle, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol when she appeared before Hyndburn magistrates.

The court was told that Kroger, who has a six-year-old daughter, was spotted by police as she drove home from an alcohol counselling session on January 22.

Details of her vehicle were radioed to police officers in Oswaldtwistle, who spotted her car on New Lane.

When she saw their vehicle, she pulled over and when officers approached the van they found her slumped across the steering wheel with a strong smell of intoxicants inside her Vauxhall Astra van, prosecutor Lisa Worsley told the court.

She was taken to the police station where she was unable to provide a breath sample to police officers.

Peter Turner, defending, said a medical condition involving her nose had prevented her giving the sample. He told the court: "Through personal problems, Mrs Kroger has turned to drink and has been binge drinking for a while.

"She accepts it is a problem and she is now booked into a rehabilitation clinic in Lancaster which will be paid for by her friends and family. "On the date Mrs Kroger was stopped by the police, she was returning from her first session with a counsellor in a bid to get over the problem.

"It had been a very difficult day for her and she stopped at an off licence on the way home where she purchased a bottle of vodka.

"She drank the vodka before she arrived home. She was stopped just a few yards from her home."

The court was also told Kroger had been banned from driving for a similar offence in 1991.

Mr Turner added: "Mrs Kroger is a German national who has to travel back to Germany once every two months to see her ill parents."

Magistrates banned Kroger from driving for five years, although she can continue to drive in Germany.

She was also issued with a 12-month community rehabilitation order.