A "steaming drunk" taxi passenger caused the vehicle to crash after grabbing the steering wheel during a journey.

Driver Terence McIntyre's Skoda Octavia was damaged and he was injured after it collided with a wall on January 5.

Carlisle Crown Court heard the crash occurred after Mr McIntyre collected 29-year-old Lucy Dobbin and another female from an Egremont pub. He requested money up front due to their drunkenness.

Prosecutor Beccy McGregor said "hyperactive" Dobbin was "shouting, screaming and dancing around in the passenger seat".

On the A595, "agitated and distressed" Dobbin demanded Mr McIntyre "slow down" - despite him travelling within the speed limit. "He was concerned about her behaviour," said Ms McGregor.

"The defendant grabbed hold of the steering wheel. She pulled the vehicle to the offside, the near-hand side. There was nothing he could do about this."

Seeing an oncoming vehicle, the driver took hold of the steering wheel to avoid a crash, but the taxi then collided with a wall. Mr McIntyre's injuries included a bump to his head.

When quizzed by police, Dobbin confessed to being "steaming drunk that night". She described her steering wheel interference as "momentary", mistakenly believing the driver was speeding and a collision was imminent.

She admitted a charge of causing a danger to road users by interfering with a vehicle.

Dobbin also admitted assaulting a 15-year-old girl outside a Whitehaven pub on March 14. The court heard she was "nine out of 10" drunk when she grabbed the teen's hair, pulled her to the ground and punched her in the face. She also bit her victim who, Ms McGregor said, described it as a "completely unprovoked attack by a woman I have never seen before".

"I am very distressed by the incident," the girl added.

Brendan Burke, defending, said the "real substance of mitigation" was Dobbin's "real and proven progress" since the offences with a professional organisation.

Hearing of that, Judge Barbara Forrester suspended a five-month jail term for two years. Dobbin, of Westmorland Road, Hensingham, must also complete rehabilitation and a three-month night-time curfew.

Judge Forrester said of the taxi crime: "You are very fortunate nobody was seriously injured."