Singer banned for drink-driving

Hylton was also fined £1,000

Pop singer Javine Hylton has been banned from driving for 18 months after admitting drink-driving.

The 24-year-old former Eurovision contestant was stopped by police while driving a convertible Mercedes in London's West End in December.

Police saw others in her car apparently drinking from a bottle of vodka, Bow Street Magistrates' Court heard.

Tests showed she was more than twice the legal limit with 74 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.

As well as the driving ban she was ordered to pay a £1,000 fine.

Sometimes families have to pick up the consequences of this sort of irresponsible activity at coroners' courts when someone is killed or seriously injured District Judge Quentin Purdy

Prosecutor Marc Robinson said officers pulled her over after she was seen driving erratically, cutting in front of a bus and changing lanes without indicating.

The court heard Hylton of Shepherd's Bush, west London, was stopped near Regent Street shortly before 11pm. Mr Robinson said she told officers she had drunk two vodka shots.

In mitigation, Nicholas Ramage said his client was giving a friend who worked in a London nightclub a lift to work and did not realise how much she had drunk.

But District Judge Quentin Purdy said: "Sometimes families have to pick up the consequences of this sort of irresponsible activity at coroners' courts when someone is killed or seriously injured."

Severe consequences

Mr Ramage told the court a ban would have severe consequences for the singer-songwriter, who travels nationwide for her work.

Hylton was also fined £200 and ordered to pay £55 court costs for a separate offence of failing to attend court for an earlier hearing.

In 2002, Hylton was the last singer to be voted off Popstars: The Rivals, leaving the remaining five singers to become the group Girls Aloud.

Her debut single, Real Things, hit number four in the charts and she sang Touch My Fire in last year's Eurovision contest in Kiev.