THE long arm of the law finally caught up with a bogus policewoman who launched a blitz on drivers.

Sharon McLachlan stole a uniform from a police station and started handing out tickets - stopping speeding cars and slapping fixed penalty notices on parked vehicles.

But the non-PC language of McLachlan aroused suspicion when one man read he had been booked for having a "baldie tyre".

McLachlan, 39, went unchallenged as she patrolled in Redcar and Guisborough, east Cleveland, in her high visibility jacket complete with handcuffs and baton.

But a court heard how she was arrested weeks later when she was a hospital patient and was spotted reading a police officer's notebook.

McLachlan "joined" the Cleveland force when she went to the police station in Guisborough on a family matter and wandered into a storeroom.

Noelle Brockbank, prosecuting, told the town's magistrates: "She found it contained uniforms on coathangers, and she stole a high-visibility coat, belt, handcuffs, baton and the officer's notebook.

"She decided she would put it to the test and she stopped a passing car and issued a fixed penalty ticket, and a short time later she stopped a taxi and got home to Redcar.

"Eventually, complaints were made by members of the public. She did the same thing the next day. The offences came to light when she was admitted to Hartlepool General Hospital where she confessed to this matter."

McLachlan, of Westbourne Grove, Redcar, was not charged with impersonating a police officer, but pleaded guilty to burglary on June 15.

Her solicitor John Nixon said: "She hoped that the uniform would get her a lift home but most drivers were dissuaded from stopping for a police officer.

"She says that if everybody had paid up on their tickets the system would be £250 better off."

District Judge James Walker said: "We are talking about having community police wardens who will do virtually the same thing."

McLachlan was given bail while reports are prepared before she is sentenced.