A mother has been arrested after allegedly crashing her ute while drunk, with her unrestrained toddler in the front seat.

The woman was slowly driving down a street in Heckenberg, in Sydney’s south-west, when police pulled her over at about 9.30pm on Tuesday.

She had allegedly crashed into a fence and when officers approached the vehicle they found a two-year-old girl standing on the front passenger seat.

Chief Inspector Bob Tunks says the 43-year-old mother “strongly smelled of alcohol” and was removed from the car.

She failed a breath test at the scene and the returned a reading of 0.121 back at Green Valley Police Station.

She’s been charged with mid-range drink driving as well as having an unrestrained child in the front seat and will face court next month.

Police notified the Department of Family and Community Services who have placed the woman’s young daughter in the care of her grandmother.