A CLACKMANNAN woman has been banned from the road after pleading guilty to dangerous driving.

Louise Vareille, 42, was travelling along the M876 towards the Clackmannanshire Bridge on March 6 this year when her driving became a concern for fellow road users.

She was observed on a number of occasions to be swerving gently from the carriageway and onto the hard shoulder before she almost caused what would have been a high-speed collision.

The accused admitted the offence when she appeared at Alloa Sheriff Court on Monday.

Reference to her car repeatedly striking the kerb on the bridge and swerving towards oncoming traffic was deleted from the charge.

Depute fiscal Ruaridh Ferguson told the court that, at around 3.45pm, Vareille left the M9 by taking the slip road onto the M876.

The prosecutor said: “Behind her was another vehicle in which two witnesses were travelling. Their attention was drawn to the accused as she approached the turn off at Airth/Bowtrees.

“They observed the vehicle repeatedly swerve onto the hard shoulder before returning to the carriageway. Their impression was that the accused was distracted by something.”

As both cars approached the slip road at Airth, Vareille proceeded to take the turn-off before veering across the chevroned area and back onto the main carriageway.

Mr Ferguson continued: “The witnesses’ vehicle was positioned in lane number one and the accused’s actions would have resulted in a collision had the driver of the other vehicle not taken evasive action by moving into lane two.

“At this point the witnesses observed the accused, who had one hand on the wheel while the other was propping up her head.”

Vareille’s lawyer, Ms Robertson, was suffering from stress at the time of the incident and may also have been left reeling by an earlier collision with an animal.

She told the court: “She recalls an animal dashing out in front of her, a little earlier on. There is some support for this as the grill of her vehicle had blood in the grill and had some damage consistent with it striking a small animal such as a deer.

“She accepts that she should have recognised her inability to drive at this point and should have stopped but she didn’t and continued home.”

Sheriff Richard McFarlane expressed some concern at the actions of the accused, who already had nine penalty points on her licence at the time of the offence.

He also said the actions of the two witnesses in reporting the incident should be “applauded”.

The sheriff told her: “This is a significant charge of dangerous driving, though I am not clear as to what exactly happened. I do wonder if there is some other underlying reason for this and so I will call for reports before dealing with this matter.”

Vareille, of Alloa Road, will attend for reports ahead of her sentencing on December 8.

She was given an interim disqualification and will be told the length of the order when she returns to court next month.