A MOTHER has been banned from driving after leading police on a dangerous pursuit along the seafront.

Billie Brown, 28, from Brighton, drove erratically through traffic at 50mph on the busy Brighton Road, Shoreham.

When she finally stopped for the police she tested positive for cocaine at the roadside but failed to give a blood test at the police station.

Brighton magistrates disqualified her from driving for 36 months.

The court heard calls came in from members of the public concerned about a black BMW driving erratically in the rain on the Brighton Road at around 10.40am on February 4.

When officers travelling westbound spotted the car going eastbound, they pointed at Brown to stop but she ignored them and sped through an amber light left into the residential road Kingston Lane.

Laura Devatt, prosecuting, told the court: “Brown was driving in excess of 50mph and officers considered her speed to be excessive and dangerous. Other cars were moving out of the way of the defendant and the police.”

The court heard Brown turned into St Julian’s Lane, speeding down the narrow road feet from a green filled with children and dogwalkers, before coming to a stop.

The court was told that Brown appeared to be intoxicated with her “eyes rolling in her head” and drugs paraphernalia was seen in her car, according to officers.

A drugs test at the roadside showed positive for cocaine. But after being arrested and ordered to provide a blood sample, she declined.

Ms Devatt said: “The defendant said she was scared of needles. But when asked by the custody nurse why, when she had used drugs in the past, Brown replied ‘That’s different ennit’.”

Ed Fish, defending, told the court Brown was not aware the police were behind her and that when she finally noticed them she pulled over.

He said: “She tried to explain to the nurse she wouldn’t be able to take a blood sample because a GP had previously struggled taking blood and she had to go to a specialist unit. Because of that she wasn’t able to get a fair specimen. She had used cocaine the previous day and this was just a one-off she regretted.”

Brown also faced a drink-driving charge for being one and half times over the limit when she crashed into a car two weeks later on the A264 Horsham after fleeing her home when she was assaulted by her husband.

Brown was convicted in her absence on August 24 of failing to provide a specimen, failing to stop a vehicle when required by police, drink-driving, driving a vehicle on a road without due car and attention, failure to answer court and two counts of using a vehicle with tyres with insufficient tread.

Sentencing on Friday, chairwoman of the bench Sarah Caton banned Brown from the roads for 36 month and made her pay £600 in fines and court costs.

Ms Caton said: “We have taken into account everything – relationship difficulties, the fact you now have a job, got your children in school, and clean drug tests.

“But we are still dealing with serious offences. If you drive while disqualified you will be taken into custody and disqualified again.”