A DRUG addict's erratic driving on the M5 at night frightened a motorist into phoning police to stop her car.

Elaine Pritchard changed lanes without warning, drove on to the hard shoulder and almost hit the central reservation. She was shadowed for more than 12 miles by a driver before being pulled up on the M42 slip road, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Pritchard was found to be incoherent and confused, acting as though in a daze, said Paul Whitfield, prosecuting.

She claimed her drink had been spiked at a party in Bir-mingham. Pritchard, aged 33, of Michael Crescent, Malvern, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving uninsured. She was given a three-month jail term, suspended for two years, banned from driving for three years and ordered to take a re-test. She was also given an 18-month community order which incl-uded drug rehabilitation.

Pritchard was a heroin addict when she tried to drive home on July 8, 2005. The case was due for trial last year but she changed her plea to guilty.

Defence counsel Abigail Nixon said Pritchard insisted she last took heroin at 10am on the day of the offence. She was embarrassed by her actions. Miss Nixon said she was now taking prescription drugs to keep her off heroin.