A DRUNKEN air hostess didn't realise she was on the wrong side of the road when she drove nearly 20 miles along a dual carriageway through North Wales in the early hours.

Although traffic was light, at one stage the wing mirror of her Renault Clio clipped the wing mirror of an oncoming vehicle, a court heard yesterday.

Catherine Mallinson, a 25-year-old British Airways stewardess, then did a U-turn after reaching traffic cones at roadworks.

But her drunken progress was brought to a halt a short time later by police using a Stinger device - spiked chains which stop cars by bursting their tyres.

Magistrates at Prestatyn heard that Mallinson, of Ennis, West Derby, Liverpool, had driven at more than 70mph.

She had a breath-alcohol count of 88, whereas the legal limit is 35.

When the wing mirrors on her Renault Clio collided with those of an oncoming vehicle, she had not stopped because she believed the accident was the other driver's fault, said prosecutor Gill Jones.

Mallinson drove on to Rhuallt Hill, near St Asaph, before being stopped and arrested.

Mrs Jones told the court that Mallinson had been staying with her grandmother in the Llandudno area, but had decided to return to Liverpool after receiving a distressing phone call from her partner.

At 2.30am last Wednesday, she entered the westbound carriageway of the A55 Expressway at Llandudno Junction, and headed eastbound.

Mallinson then drove on the wrong side of the road for 20 miles through Colwyn Bay and past Abergele and St Asaph before being stopped.

Yesterday she pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and drink-driving on the A55 in North Wales.

Defence solicitor Gwyn Jones invited the court to adjourn for a pre-sentence report and Mallinson was bailed until next month. An interim driving ban was imposed.

But court chairman Francis Phillips warned her: "We consider the case is so serious that a prison sentence may be called for."