'Highly thought-of' teacher, 53, who was spotted driving on the wrong side of road had drunk bottle of wine in the morning before getting behind wheel

• Amanda McClean, 53, was spotted weaving around on the road in her Peugeot
• She was heading towards Marske, North Yorkshire, on May 9 last year 
• Witness saw McClean being beeped at by drivers while in the wrong lane 
• McClean pulled into a petrol station where a police officer took her keys away
• Judge sentenced her to a community order with 40-month driving ban  

A 'highly thought-of' teacher drank a bottle of wine in the morning before she was seen driving on the wrong side of the road.

Amanda McClean, 53, was spotted weaving around on the road in her Peugeot while heading towards Marske, North Yorkshire, on May 9 last year, Teesside Magistrates' Court heard. 

The witness - a mother who was in the car with her two children and her husband, who was driving - saw McClean being beeped at by drivers while in the wrong lane, prosecutor Joanne Hesse told the court.   

Ms Hesse said the witness noticed McClean's vehicle going below the speed limit, driving very slowly and weaving around on the road.

The family followed McClean's vehicle, seeing it travel on the wrong side of the road for 'approximately two minutes' before pulling into a petrol station with a car park where a police officer - who had already been contacted - took the teacher's keys.  

In a previous hearing McClean, of Marske, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol in her blood.

District Judge Stephen Hood handed McClean a 12-month community order and banned her from driving for 40 months.

He said it was clear that she was exceptionally good at her job and put a lot into it, adding: 'I expect the stress of that job has in some way contributed to what has now occurred in terms of alcohol.'

District Judge Hood told McClean that he was told, from a report, that the level of alcohol in her blood is down to her drinking a bottle of wine on the morning of the offence and getting behind the wheel of a car and driving.

He said: 'That clearly shows me that there are thinking skills that need to be considered as to how appropriate that is.' 

The defendant was also fined £270 and ordered to complete 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

She must also pay the court £85 costs and a £95 surcharge.

The prosecutor told the court Mcclean had pulled into a petrol station with a car park where a police officer, who had already been contacted, attended the scene.

She told the court in Middlesbrough how the vehicle was parked outside the lines of the parking bay.

Ms Hesse said McClean tried to put the keys back in the ignition but the officer took the keys from her.

The court heard how she was found to have 261 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80.

David Dedman, defending, told the court that she would have been driving for two minutes and slightly going over the line rather than driving on the wrong side of the road.

He said: 'She was a very hard working, high thought of teacher who took on too much to the point she ended up collapsing due to stress.

'It led to stress and depression and anxiety which is often coupled, as it often is, with an issue with alcohol.'

Mr Dedman said she had been seeking help from an organisation, she was doing three monthly blood tests and she had been prescribed a drug which takes away the desire to drink.

He added that she has thought about the seriousness of what she has done and had entered a guilty plea at the first opportunity.