A suicidal woman, who took an overdose of sleeping pills and collided with another vehicle as she struggled to control her car, has been banned from driving for thirty months.
Elderly care worker Kim Evans, 44, of The Firs, Ruskington, Sleaford, Lincolnshire swallowed the entire packet of sleeping pills as she struggled to come to terms with the break-up of a ten-year relationship and mounting money troubles.
She pleaded guilty at Croydon Magistrates' Court to driving her Peugeot 306, while unfit through drugs, in Cheam Common Road, Cheam on October 27, last year.
The court was told police called to the scene of the crash at the junction with London Road found Evans (pictured) "incoherent" and "slurring her speech".
She was unsteady on her feet and trying to go to sleep and was rushed to hospital, where blood tests proved she had overdosed on sleeping pills.
Mr. John O'Keefe, defending, said: "She was severely impaired due to taking an overdose of sleeping tablets, which was a suicide attempt.
"She had gone through the break-up of a relationship of ten years and was going through personal and financial difficulties.
"All these circumstances became too much for her and she had a breakdown. She took the entire packet in a suicide attempt, lay down in the back of her car, and expected to die.
"It was a one-off crisis in her life."
The court was told Evans lives with her parents in a rural part of Lincolnshire and volunteers at an old people's home.
"She was completely incapacitated by the overdose she had taken and was unable to answer police questions."
Evans had returned to bar work at the time of the incident, but this accelerated her troubles.
"She took jobs in pubs and that led to an increased use of alcohol and in recent months developed an alcohol problem," added Mr. O'Keefe.
The tearful first-time offender was sentenced to a twelve month community order, which includes 150 hours community service work, and ordered to pay £85 costs.
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