A 'lonely and isolated' pensioner drunk-drove her car to a nearby shop to buy lager, a court heard.

Jean Moores, aged 65, of Morris Road, Bovington, pleaded guilty at Weymouth Magistrates Court to charges of drink-driving, driving without insurance and driving without a licence.

Prosecutor Elizabeth Valera told magistrates that on the evening of Sunday, June 24, police were called to the scene of a road-traffic accident in Bovington's Cologne Road in which the driver had failed to stop after hitting a parked car.

Officers attended the nearby home of Moores and found her car 'with the front badly damaged and the wheel hanging off', according to a police statement read out by Mrs Valera. "It was clear [the defendant] had driven some way on the rim of the wheel," the statement said, adding that Mrs Moores 'smelled strongly of intoxicating liquor'.

The defendant immediately admitted to the officers that she had no licence or insurance, having lost her licence in the wake of a previous drink-driving offence, Mrs Valera went on.

"She had been drinking lager that evening and decided to drive to the local shop to stock up. On the way home, she realised she had a puncture, but decided to continue until she reached her home," the prosecutor said.

Patricia Sheehan, mitigating, said that the recently-retired defendant lived a 'lonely and isolated' life, and that the incident was the first time she had got behind the wheel of her car since her previous driving ban.

"She lives in Bovington, and these camps are very big," Ms Sheehan said of her client, who until retirement did clerical work for the army at Bovington Camp.

Ms Sheehan added that Moores had divorced from her husband and had very little social interaction. The defendant 'drank for comfort', she said, but was thinking of moving to Manchester where her sister lives.

"It's a great city, you can get trains, buses everywhere," she said. "It's only in Dorset that there's no public transport. The countryside isn't for everyone.

"She just needs to make some lifestyle changes."

Presiding magistrate Karen Spooner banned Moores from driving for 36 months, and ordered her to pay a fine of £120 along with a victim surcharge of the same amount.

"We hope that this matter will serve as a catalyst for the changes you need to make," the magistrate said.