A woman who overturned her car in a Norwich street 24 hours after being caught drink driving has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Mihaela Bucicoiu refused to undergo a breath test after crashing into a number of parked cars and rolling her VW Golf onto its roof in Churchill Road on September 9.

Norwich Magistrates’ Court had heard after crashing she had appeared “highly intoxicated” but had refused to provide police with a roadside test.

She was arrested and taken to the police station where she then refused to provide officers with a blood sample.

The crash occurred just a day after she was found to be over the limit after police were alerted by concerned members of the public at the Esso garage on Aylsham Road.

The 27-year-old was seen returning to her car with a bottle of wine and when challenged by police while sitting in the driver's seat she appeared to be “clearly drunk” with “glazed eyes”.

Bucicoiu, of Knowsley Road, Norwich, had previously pleaded guilty to failing to provide a specimen of blood for analysis on September 9 and driving a motor vehicle while above the legal limit for alcohol on September 8.

She also admitted driving with excess alcohol after she almost "collided with a police car" while driving on the wrong side of the road in St Andrews Street in Norwich on August 29 this year.

On that occasion Bucicoiu was found to have 101mcg of alcohol in 100mls of breath - almost twice the legal limit.

Appearing before magistrates to be sentenced on Friday, the care worker wept in the dock as she was given an 18-week suspended jail sentence and was banned from driving for 36 months. She was also ordered to do 140 hours unpaid work.

Dave Foulkes, mitigating, said she was “really ashamed” and was seeking help and support after turning to drink as a coping mechanism.

“She is a lady who has really gone into meltdown over a very quick period of time with some problems which have just got too much for her,” he said.

“Over a period at the end of August and beginning of September she resorted to drinking and didn’t think about the consequences because she felt so low.”