I AM asking commenters to be kind to a woman who, in my opinion, has already been dealt enough punishment for a terrible mistake.

Susan Cross reached out to us after her court case in which she pleaded guilty to driving over the alcohol limit.

She wanted to be upfront and honest and to apologise. The thought that she could have potentially hurt someone has been keeping her up at night and, even her counsellor, has had to tell her to stop beating herself up about it.

Speaking to her, I could tell that she is genuine and has had a sharp wake-up call, describing it as “my life before the crash and my life after the crash.”

“I’d never be able to live with myself when all I have done in my life is try to preserve life,” said Mrs Cross.

She has already been dealing with a range of emotional issues and is going to have to go through a long process with her mental health to build herself back up to the person she was before recent events.

Ms Cross couldn’t be more relieved that no one was hurt in the crash but is so aware that “it could have been very different.”

When she feels strong enough, she hopes to run a campaign to raise awareness. Not only is the nurse and mum extremely remorseful, but she also wants to use the experience to spread awareness of the dangers of drink-driving and make other people think before getting behind the wheel after having a drink.

Plenty of people do drink and drive and it can be a very blurry line between feeling sober and tipsy. Yet our reaction times only need to be very slightly under par for us to have a crash. “Don’t risk it ", says Ms Cross.

“It doesn’t matter how over the limit you are, if you are over the limit you are over the limit.”

Ms Cross has a clean record, has been looking after people for most of her life and is, as far as I can tell, a good person. She has previously featured in the Worcester News for a Charity Zumba event she organised to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Some may criticise me for sticking up for her but I feel that, although drink driving is a terrible and serious crime, Ms Cross has shown real compassion, honesty and remorse and, as no one was hurt in the minor accident (thankfully), she deserves forgiveness, and the chance to move on with her life.