Woman admits to being seven times the limit after hitting ambulance with her car

Nicole Abkemeyer recorded one of the highest ever readings in Scotland after the collision on a country road in the Borders last June.

The 36-year-old German national drove a van for a distance of 300 metres on the wrong carriageway before negotiating a bend and colliding with an ambulance which was coming in the opposite direction.

Both vehicles were damaged in the incident on the A6105 Duns to Chirnside road in Berwickshire on June 16 last year.

Jedburgh Sheriff Court heard that when the holiday park cleaner was breathalysed, she gave a reading of 155 microgrammes of alcohol, the limit being 22.

Abkemeyer, of Billiemains Farm Cottages, near Duns, pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous driving and drink driving.

Not guilty pleas to failing to comply with a breath test and a charge of child cruelty were accepted by the Crown.

Sheriff Janys Scott called for background reports and imposed an interim driving ban warning her she was disqualified from the road with immediate effect.

Sentence was deferred until June 20 for a Criminal Justice Social Work Report and a Restriction of Liberty Order assessment.

In February 2022, Kerry Duncan, 42, from Dundee, gave a British record reading for a woman with 188 microgrammes, almost nine times the legal alcohol limit. She still has to be sentenced.