A drunk-driver clipped a learner driver while driving “like a bat out of hell” - shortly before crashing in to a ditch on Arran.

Kathlene Deary was nearly four times the drink-drive limit when her blue Fiat Punto struck a woman’s car as she was on a driving lesson.

Deary, 50, later crashed in to a ditch on the island, dubbed ‘Scotland in miniature’, near the village of Corrie.

Deary went on trial at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court last week over the events of the day in question.

She denied drink-driving, claiming she had more than two cans of K Cider, which is 8.2 per cent, between crashing and police arriving at her home.

She also denied failing to stop at the scene of an accident and provide details to the driver of the car she clipped, and careless driving by driving clipping the other car and then crashing in to a ditch.

The driver of the other car was called to give evidence, telling the court she was a learner driver and was on a driving lesson at the time Deary hit her.

They explained: “It was going really fast - faster than me.

“I would think [it was speeding].

“Like a bat out of hell is how I described it to the police, that what I thought - I thought, ‘bloody hell’.

“She knocked my wing mirror back - it was completely smashed up.

“It was quite shocking because because I was on a lesson and I’m a learner driver.

“Then it just went off.”

PC Andrew Porteous also gave evidence in the trial, telling the court that he received a call about a car that had gone off the road and went to investigate, finding Deary’s Fiat Punto in a ditch just outside Corrie.

He said they did a check on the car, discovered the owner was Deary, went to her home, smelled alcohol on her breath when he spoke to her and gave her a breath test, which she failed.

She was then taken to Lamlash police station, where a blood sample was taken, which showed she had 184milligrams of alcohol in 100millilitres of blood - nearly four times the 50milligram limit.

Deary, a newsagent, claimed she had clipped Gibson’s car when driving home from her then work as a cook at Corriedoon Care Home on the island just after 2pm on August 14, 2016.

And she said that she crashed in to the ditch just over an hour later, at around 3.15pm, while driving home after dropping her son at work.

She said she’d got a neighbour with a transit van to try and tow her car out the ditch but their attempt was unsuccessful.

And she said she was over the limit because she went home and drank at least two cans of strong cider before the police arrived.

But Sheriff Michael Hanlon saw through her lies and convicted her of all three charges - drink-driving, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and careless driving, all of which were brought under the Road Traffic Act 1988.

As he did so he said: “You should have stopped - you accept there was a collision and you realise that.

“I don’t believe your evidence.

“I did not find you to be credible and reliable.”

He fined her £750 and banned her from driving for 20 months, telling her the ban would be reduced to 17 months if she completed a drink-drivers’ rehabilitation course.