A mother spent her benefits on getting drunk while looking after her three-year-old son, then blamed her children for driving her to drink because they didn't clean up after themselves.
The mother-of-three, 30, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted to drinking three cans of lager while looking after her youngest child before going to the pub for lunch with a friend.
She told reporters outside Teesside Magistrates' Court that she had a further drink with lunch, then drank three more cans at her friend's house before going to pick her other two children up from school.
Realising their mother was drunk, the children ran to see their grandmother who lives nearby, and she called the police.
When officers arrived to arrest the mother she shouted and swore at them in front of her family, before running outside and into the path of a car which had to make an emergency stop to avoid her.
Outside Teesside Magistrates Court she explained: 'I was having a bad day and my little boy was OK, he tucked into a chicken dinner in the pub.
'People don't realise how hard it is being a single mum, but at least I'm getting a break now because all of them are in care.
'I just needed a rest to get myself sorted out and now I feel better in myself.
'I had three cans before I went for dinner, then had one drink in the pub and another three cans before I went to pick the kids up.'
Prosecutor Joanne Hesse told the court: 'The defendant went to pick up her elder children from school and she had a child of three with her. She was in full charge of the child.
The two eldest children went to see their grandmother at her home to say their mother was drunk. The children were upset.
'The grandmother called the police as the defendant was highly intoxicated. The defendant was seen to be present and then left the property and ran into the road in front of an oncoming vehicle.
'The vehicle made an emergency stop to avoid a collision. Police officers pursued the defendant and she shouted and swore.
'She was arrested and interviewed. She explained that she had been at a Toby Carvery just before mid day with a friend and had been drinking.
'She said she continued to drink and went back to her friend's house having purchased alcohol from a shop.
'She said she wasn't struggling to cope but found it difficult when the children didn't clean and wash up after themselves. She said she was a single mother and it is difficult.'
The mum admitted being drunk and disorderly outside the children's grandmother's home and being drunk in charge of a child under the age of seven years.
The case was adjourned for reports before sentencing, but Judge Andrew Meachin told her: 'You have a responsibility to children of that young age and you abandoned that responsibility by getting drunk on that particular day.
'You were with a young child, clearly very very drunk and you almost caused a major collision.'
