An alcoholic air hostess who arrived back from Amsterdam drunk 'staggered' to her car and had to be stopped from driving off by her colleagues.
Angela Young, 46, was over four times over the limit when she arrived at Leeds Bradford Airport, West Yorkshire, and airport staff blocked her car in before calling police.
Young had a previously unblemished 18-year hostess career but is now set to be sacked and lose a £30,000 redundancy payout.
Leeds Magistrates Court heard that Young caught a shuttle bus to a car park in the airport before getting in her car and starting the engine.
Prosecutor Mark Haigh told the court the bus driver was concerned Young was 'heavily intoxicated' and had alerted a car park attendant.
The attendant then spotted Young 'staggering' to her silver Volvo S40 and noticed she was slurring her words before blocking her in and calling the police.
Mitigating, Ian Anderson, said Young is employed as cabin crew by KLM.
He said: 'She has been doing that job for 18 years with an unblemished record.
'At the moment she is suspended. As of today, she will undoubtedly be dismissed. She was due to be made redundant in the very near future and she would have received a payment in excess of £30,000.
'She will now be dismissed for gross misconduct and the money will disappear.'
Mr Anderson added that Young now knows she needs help.
The blood alcohol limit for flying is four times stricter than for driving.
Flight crew cannot work if they have 20 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, compared to an 80 mg per 100 ml limit equivalent for drivers.
Young admitted 'performing an aviation function' while over the limit and being in charge of a vehicle whilst over the drink drive limit.
Young, who has no previous convictions, was sentenced to a 12-month community order with a nine-month alcohol treatment requirement, 20 rehabilitation activity days and 40 hours unpaid work.
She was also given a 12-month driving ban.
No comments:
Post a Comment