A driver has been disqualified from driving for 18 months after magistrates found her guilty of failing to provide a specimen for analysis.

Police attended a crash on March 29 2024 in the Hawkshead area involving a black VW Golf driven by Agata Nichols, 37, of Waterhead Close, Ambleside.

Despite being given five opportunities to provide a breath test, and being warned of the consequences if she did not, Nichols failed to do so, police said.

She was subsequently arrested and taken to custody where she again failed to provide a specimen for analysis.

Nichols denied the offence at court but was found guilty by magistrates at South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court.

As well as the driving ban, she was sentenced to a 90-day abstinence from alcohol requirement, an alcohol rehabilitation requirement and must pay £764 in fines and costs.

A spokesman for Cumbria Police's Roads Policing Unit (RPU) said: “The arrest of Nichols followed a significant road traffic collision on a rural road.

“Anyone who gets behind the wheel whilst unfit through drink or drugs is putting lives at risk. As such, the Constabulary welcomes the driving ban and hopes the sentencing of the court will also assist the defendant and help reduce the likelihood of her committing a similar offence in the future.”