Rula Lenska banned from roads after drink driving crash with grandson in back seat

Former EastEnders actress Rula Lenska has been banned from driving after crashing her car with her three-year-old grandson in the back after drinking vodka.

The 68-year-old had been drinking with Polish builders to toast the completion of a fence on February 22.

Lenska's young grandson was inside her Kia when it hit a parked car in Twickenham, west London, and rolled onto its side just after 7pm.

She was said to have been distracted by emergency lights on her dashboard in the middle of Hospital Bridge Road.

Witnesses said they heard a loud bang and, after helping Lenska and her grandson, told police they smelled alcohol on her breath.

Prosecutor Mary Atere said: "It is as a result of the witnesses claiming that they could smell alcohol on her breath that she is breath tested some 30 minutes later."

Lenska admitted driving with 47 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of her breath. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.

The actress, of Hazledene Road, Chiswick, south west London, was banned from driving for 16 months, fined £410 and ordered to pay a surcharge of £41 as well as £85 in costs.

Seema Parikh, defending Lenska, told Wimbledon Magistrates' Court the actress had been riddled with guilt since the incident which saw her endanger the life of her "darling grandson".

A statement released on behalf of Lenska said: "The incident of February 22 will always be engraved in her mind and she cannot express enough her remorse for what happened.

"She is thankful that no one was injured and would like to thank her friends, family and legal team for their committed support during this very difficult period.

"She looks forward to resuming her professional commitments and putting this matter behind her."

Lenska is the former wife of actor Dennis Waterman.

As well as EastEnders, she recently played Claudia Colby in Coronation Street and appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006, when she famously allowed George Galloway to pretend to lick milk from her hands when he was acting like a cat.