A FORMER East Lothian councillor has been banned from the road after she was caught driving while more than three times the drink-drive limit.

Jacquie Bell, 58 was found to have 68mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath at Spott Road and Brodie Road, both Dunbar, on February 1. The legal limit is just 22mg of alcohol.

The former East Lothian Council member appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Friday, where she pleaded guilty to the drink-drive charge.

Pleas of not guilty to mounting a traffic island and driving over the island on the same streets and to not co-operating with a police breath test during the same incident were accepted by the Crown.

Bell, of High Street, Belhaven, will return to court for sentencing on April 20 after the case was deferred for reports.

Sheriff Frank Crowe told Bell that she would be banned from driving in the interim until the full sentence is handed down next month.

Bell admitted to driving while over the drink-drive limit on two streets in Dunbar on February 1.

Bell was a Liberal Democrat councillor for the Dunbar and East Linton ward between 2007 and 2012.

After standing unsuccessfully as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Midlothian North and Musselburgh in last year's Scottish Parliament elections, she had initially announced she was standing for election as a councillor in the local authority elections in May, but withdrew her candidacy in February, citing "health reasons".

She also stood down as chairwoman of Dunbar and East Linton Community and Police Partnership (CAPP) for the same reason.