Delta Airlines cabin crew member, 27, is ordered to pay more than $900 fine after she boarded a flight at Heathrow nearly SEVEN times over the aviation alcohol limit
- Lemara Thompson admitted being over legal limit while on duty as cabin crew
- Officers called to control post at Heathrow after reports she smelled of alcohol
- The 27-year-old has now been ordered to pay a £548 fine and £85 in costs
An airline cabin crew member who turned up for a flight nearly seven times over the aviation drinking limit has been fined today.
Lemara Thompson admitted being over the legal limit while on duty as a cabin crew member for Delta Airlines on June 16.
Officers were called to a control post at Heathrow Airport after reports the 27-year-old, from Brooklyn, New York, smelled of alcohol.
Prosecutors said Thompson had failed a preliminary breath test before further tests found her blood alcohol level was 135mg per 100ml of blood.
The legal limit for performing an aviation duty is 20mg, compared with 80mg for driving, Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court was told.
Lemara Thompson admitted being over the legal limit while on duty as a cabin crew member for Delta Airlines
Prosecutor Shann Sethi said: ‘Officers were called to a control post at Heathrow Airport to reports that the defendant, who is a member of Delta Airlines cabin crew, had passed through a security arch smelling of alcohol.
‘She failed a preliminary breath test. A blood sample was taken and toxicology reports showed that she had 135mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
‘She was almost seven times over the limit.’
Dan Martin, defending, said Thompson had not been drinking that day but the night before, which was ‘unusual for her’.
He added: ‘The defendant made, in her own words, a horrible mistake – she jeopardised everything she had worked so hard to achieve in life.
‘She is extremely remorseful. This wasn’t a case of her having drunk prior to the flight, she was drinking the night before, which is unusual for her.
‘She made a great error of judgment in attending work the next day.’
Mr Martin said Thompson had gone through disciplinary proceedings with her employer but had kept her job on condition she submitted to testing.
A panel of magistrates handed her a £548 fine and ordered her to pay £85 in costs.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority, the legal limit of alcohol is 20mg per 100ml of blood for people involved in aviation activities including flight crew, cabin crew and air traffic controllers.