A WOMAN caught behind the wheel while more than 15 times the drug-drive limit has been banned from the roads.

Joanne Curbishley, of Brakeley Lane, Little Leigh, was travelling along the A5300 Knowsley Expressway on July 4 when she was caught last year. 

A subsequent blood test revealed the 46-year-old had 765µg/L of Benzoylecgonine, a breakdown product of cocaine, in her system.

The legal limit for this is 50µg/L.

Curbishley pleaded guilty to drug-driving on April 2 and returned to Chester Magistrates Court on May 1 for sentencing.

The bench disqualified her from driving for 30 months and fined her £160.

The court heard her guilty plea was taken into account but, while she was given full credit for her admission, the offence passed the community threshold and a band D fine was imposed.

The driving ban started from April 2 this year, the date Curbishley was handed an interim disqualification.

She was also ordered to pay court costs of £85 and a £72 surcharge.