Air rage fine halved
05.04.08
A man who caused chaos on a holiday flight asked appeal judges to cut his fine yesterday – because he could not afford it. Jobless Brian Waters, 35, claimed a sheriff got his sums wrong and imposed an £1100 penalty only after miscalculating how much he got in benefits. Plus he still owed his family the £300 it cost him to get back home because the airline refused to honour his ticket for the return leg of the flight.
An earlier trial heard how families jetting off from Glasgow Airport to Reus in Spain bombarded cabin staff with complaints about the antics of four men who had been drinking before the Boeing 757 left the airport in May last year. One woman with a baby in her arms was crying hysterically, Paisley Sheriff Court was told.
Cabin manageress Belinda Donnachie, who had her bottom groped by one of the drunks, said: ‘In all of the years I have been flying, I have never seen anything like it.’ Mr Waters came out of the toilet cubicle, next to the flight deck, reeking of nicotine. A check discovered cigarette ash in the wash-hand basin.
Mr Waters of Greenend Avenue, Johnstone, was found guilty of smoking in the aircraft toilet and guilty of a breach of the peace by pushing a drink-laden serving trolley at Ms Donnachie. Sheriff George Kavanagh fined him £800 for the smoking offence and a further £300 for the breach of the peace.
But yesterday solicitor advocate Ann Ogg told appeal judges that the sheriff had mistakenly thought Waters was getting £190 a week when, in fact, it was only £190 a fortnight. She said: ‘The total of £1,100 was excessive and would take more than two years to pay.' The general rule was that any fine should be payable in about a year, added the lawyer.
Lord Eassie agreed to half Waters’ fine, and ordered him to continue paying installments of £20 a fortnight until the £550 is cleared.
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