A MOTORIST with a young child in her car has been charged with drink-driving after giving a breath test reading more than four times the legal limit.

The 39-year-old woman, from York, was challenged by North Yorkshire Police officers outside Spar, in the Clifton Green area of the city shortly before 7pm yesterday, after a member of the public alerted police.

A roadside breath test suggested the woman, who was driving a Ford Focus and had a child under the age of seven in the vehicle with her, had 154 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath - almost four and a half times the legal limit of 35mg per 100ml.

She has also been charged of being drunk in charge of a child under seven.

The arrest came just hours after the results of North Yorkshire Police's drink and drug-driving crackdown showed 111 motorists had been arrested in June, with breathalyser results showing 40 per cent were twice the legal drink-drive limit or above, while 12 per cent were three times the limit or higher.

The figures were described by police as alarming.