polish Woman out of a job after drunken debacle
Air hostess fined £400 for being six times limit
Published:
A flight attendant was forced to resign from her job after turning up for work more than six times over the legal alcohol limit, a court heard yesterday.
Monika Lukomska, of 10 Kiln Field, Liss, Hampshire, was fined £400 at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Around 140 passengers heading for Portugal were delayed by almost seven hours following the incident at Aberdeen Airport on August 3.
The court heard Miss Lukomska touched down in Aberdeen in the early hours of Saturday, August 2, after working on a Bmi flight from Ibiza.
She went to a hotel in the city’s west end with the rest of the crew – and went to bed around breakfast time.
Later that day she went into town with four colleagues, including the captain and first officer. She drank two cocktails and the group shared two bottles of wine over dinner before returning to the hotel.
The 24-year-old Polish national said she was in bed by 11pm. The next morning she woke up with a migraine and took a herbal remedy but felt able to do her job. The crew left the hotel together and headed to the airport for the 9am flight. Nothing was said by her colleagues at that point to suggest she was not fit for duty.
Arriving at the airport, the crew went through security where staff noted there was “something wrong” with Miss Lukomska, defence agent Mike Monro said.
They informed the airport manager and police were contacted.
In the meantime, she had boarded the plane with the captain and first officer and was preparing to carry out her duties. As was normal, her supervisor asked her three random questions “to test her capability and ability to be on duty”. Miss Lukomska answered them correctly.
The court heard some of the 140 passengers had started boarding the flight when the captain was alerted that police were about to board. He left the cockpit and told Miss Lukomska to go to the back of the plane.
Police entered and she was removed from the plane after officers thought she smelled of alcohol and was unsteady on her feet.
Passengers were then left with a lengthy wait while another crew was flown up from Manchester.
The court heard that, under training by Bmi, staff were advised they were not permitted to drink eight hours before working.
However, Miss Lukomska claimed she had not been aware of the legal limit.
She had 57 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – more than six times the legal limit for her job and almost three times the limit for driving a car.
Mr Munro said: “She has lost her job as a result of this. She has been very upset by this. It is utterly out of character.”
Sheriff Kieran McLernan said a very serious view was taken in matters of aircraft safety and fined her £400.
A Bmi spokeswoman said: “Bmi takes passenger and crew safety very seriously.
“We operate a zero-tolerance policy in terms of alcohol consumption.
“The pilot and co-pilot were both breathalysed and provided negative specimens.”
