Ref. 9435-50ROUND the world yachtswoman Tracy Edwards has been banned from the road for 16 months after being caught drink driving.

The 41-year-old was more than twice the legal drink-drive limit when her Jeep was seen weaving across the dual carriageway at Blunsdon as she answered her mobile phone.

Edwards, who skippered the first all female crew to sail round the world and received an MBE in 1990, sobbed in the dock as Swindon magistrates heard how her four wheel drive vehicle crossed white lines and mounted a verge before being stopped by police.

Paul Ricketts, prosecuting, told justices that Sgt Colin Conway was off duty when he saw a green Jeep Cherokee being driven south along the A419 at Blunsdon on a Friday evening late last summer.

"He noticed the Jeep begin the meander from lane two to the offside. He noticed it crossed the white line and went on to a grass verge," he said.

"The Jeep was able to correct itself but he noticed it again began to veer across the road."

He said the officer alerted colleagues who were on duty and they tracked down the vehicle and pulled it over on Friday, August 1 last year.

"The driver identified herself as Miss Edwards. They pointed out the careless driving and she said 'I was trying to receive a phone call'."

He said they could smell alcohol on her breath and after she failed a roadside breath test she was taken to the police station where she was found to have 78mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.

Edwards, who gave her address to the court as Burnt Hill House, Thatcham, Berks, pleaded guilty to drink driving on the morning of her trial. She admitted careless driving last year.

Nicola Jennings, defending, said that her client was returning home from a charity lunch when she was stopped by police.

During the four hour lunch she said Edwards had two small glasses of white wine and one glass of champagne.

"She accepts driving and using her mobile and that she was driving badly. She accepts she swerved in the carriageway but not as erratically. Not across two lanes and on to the verge but she does accept swerving."

Miss Jennings said that Edwards was currently unemployed and when she was in the country had to look after her elderly mother, who lived in a rural area. She also had sole care of her four-year-old daughter.

She said Edwards, who had flown in from the Middle East state of Qatar, was between jobs and so currently unemployed.

As well as the ban Edwards was fined £50 for careless driving, £120 for drink driving and ordered to pay £70 costs.

Mrs Angie Watts, chairman of the bench, also offered her the option of a drink drive rehabilitation course which if successfully completed would reduce the ban by four months.

Speaking afterwards Edwards said "For me it is really important to get across that I didn't intentionally mean to drink and drive. I never have done and I would not."

Edwards skippered yacht Maiden in the 1990 round the world yachting race with an all woman crew, the first time it had been done.