A YOUNG mother was left in tears after a drunken driver careered round a bend in Worcester and hit her pram.

Harriet Hackston was carrying her seven-week-old daughter in a sling against her chest when the terrifying incident happened.

Driver James Dance lost control of his Vauxhall Corsa in Newport Street after he drove too fast around a bend from North Parade, said Alex Warren, prosecuting. One witness told police his offside wheels were off the ground as he struggled to gain control.

“At one stage the car was heading straight for Mrs Hackston,” Mr Warren told Worcester Crown Court.

“The car waggled from one side of the road to the other and struck the pram a glancing blow.”

The Corsa was driven past no entry signs before Dance and two passengers got out. Police found him with the help of CCTV cameras and he was arrested.

A breath test found he had 86mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath – the legal limit is 35mcg.

Dance, aged 24, of Earlsdon Road, St John’s, Worcester, admitted dangerous driving and driving with excess alcohol.

Judge Andrew Plunkett said the factory worker had come close to killing the mother and her baby and spending many years in jail.

Mrs Hackston, also 24, had been “frightened out of her wits”, he added, and he ordered Dance to pay her £750 compensation.

Dance was also given a nine-month prison term, suspended for 18 months, told to do 200 hours of unpaid work and had an 18-month driving ban.

He must take an extended re-test before driving again and must undergo an electronically-tagged overnight curfew for three months.

The incident happened on Friday, July 10, at 4.50pm as Mrs Hackston stood on a pavement, said Mr Warren.

She heard a screech of tyres before the car hit her pram, leaving her “in a state of shock and distress”.

Dance, who had a previous conviction for public disorder, refused to comment in a police interview.

He was now genuinely remorseful and “felt terrible” about what he had done, said Nick Roberts, defending. But he had a previous good driving record.