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Watch: Hovercraft pilot tries to land on Isle of Wight while over drink-drive limit
- Published_at:2014-10-11
- Category:News & Politics
- Channel:YouTube WebTV12
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- description: Richard Pease, 50, was jailed yesterday for eight months after being found to be nearly three times over the drink drive limit This is the moment a drunk hovercraft pilot who was nearly three times over the drink drive limit fell ill and collapsed at the helm. Richard Pease, 50, was yesterday jailed for eight months after being found to have 96 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of his breath while in charge of Freedom 90. He was nearly three times over the legal drink-drive limit of 35mg in what was described as a “grave dereliction of duty”. The 127-seater vessel struggled to land in Ryde, Isle of Wight, on June 22 this year and a colleague had to board it and take over the controls. CCTV footage shows the hovercraft, which had 36 passengers on board, missing the landing pad in and another pilot having to board it and take over the controls. Passengers can then be seen alighting from the craft as paramedics arrive to treat Pease. Judge Susan Evans, sentencing, said: "You put in jeopardy the safety of your passengers, your crew and other vessels in the Solent. "This was a grave dereliction of duty and your actions could have resulted in tragedy." Pease, who has worked as a hovercraft pilot for 20 years, had a previously unblemished record, Newport Crown Court on the Isle of Wight heard. But during the course of the day, a total of 134 passengers had travelled on board the Freedom 90 hovercraft from Portsmouth to Ryde under his control. He had already admitted being a master of a hovercraft having consumed excess alcohol under the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003. He originally faced charges of driving a motor vehicle when alcohol level above limit and contravening Merchant Shipping regulations by failing to present for duty free from alcohol but these were dropped. Neil Cunningham, Maritime and Coastguard Agency Enforcement Officer, said: "The Master of any vessel has a duty of care to their crew and passengers, so to carry out this responsibility whilst under the influence of alcohol is totally irresponsible. "Mr Pease was clearly not in any fit state to carry out his duties safely. It is incredibly fortunate that no-one was hurt in this case." Hovertravel is the world's longest running commercial hovercraft service and is the only scheduled passenger hovercraft service in the Europe. It offers the fastest way to cross the Solent between Southsea, Portsmouth and Ryde, Isle of Wight, operating a journey time of around 10 minutes. More than 26 million passengers have travelled on the service since it was established in 1965.
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| 2014-10-13 | 3,461 | 0 | 1 |
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