A MOTHER-of-two has been banned from driving for 18 months for failing a roadside breath test after crashing her van into a ditch with her two children in the back.

Kennet magistrates heard on Monday that Michele Tietz, 41, from Couch Lane, Seend, was seen by police climbing into the back of the white Ford Escort van after they were called to the single-vehicle crash on the Seend to Worton road, near Devizes, shortly after 10.30pm on July 23.

Rachel Hume, prosecuting, told the court that Tietz's eight-year-old daughter and six-year-old son were in the back of the vehicle among a heap of pillows and duvets. There were no seats in the back of the van.

Tietz acknowledged she had been the driver and agreed to be breathalysed but when arrested and taken to the police station she became, according to the custody officer, aggressive and emotional and refused to take an intoxalyser test.

She was charged with failing to provide a breath specimen when required . She pleaded guilty.

But Andrew Eddy, defending, said his client had given a full account to police in interview. She had been driving two miles from one village to the next. She admitted she had been for a drink, and had had four glasses of wine in the course of the evening. When police arrived, she was waiting for a friend, whom she had phoned, to come along and pull her out of the ditch.

Mr Eddy said: "She was taken away from her children in handcuffs and became upset and concerned for their welfare."

He said that his client was a woman of previous good character who lived alone with her children. He added that the girl was secured in the front of the van and the boy was behind her at the time of the crash.

Tietz was fined £260, reduced to £180 because of her early guilty plea, banned from driving for 18 months and ordered to pay costs of £55. She agreed to take advantage of a drink-drivers rehabilitation course, which, if completed, will reduce her ban by four months.