A British Airways cabin crew member has found herself grounded in the most dramatic fashion after a high-speed motorway crash led to a drink-driving arrest. The incident unfolded on the infamous M25, the capital's orbital motorway, in the early hours of the morning.
The court at Wimbledon Magistrates heard how the 52-year-old flight attendant, Maria Gagliardi, was involved in a single-vehicle collision. The crash occurred shortly after she had returned to the UK from a demanding long-haul flight, a detail that would become central to the case.
A Costly Journey Home
Prosecutors revealed that police were called to the scene where they found Gagliardi's black Peugeot 208 badly damaged. Upon speaking to her, officers reported detecting a strong smell of alcohol. A subsequent breathalyser test delivered a damning result: she registered 82 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit in England and Wales is just 35 microgrammes.
This placed her more than twice over the legal limit for driving, a serious offence that carries severe penalties.
Mitigation and Aftermath
In her defence, the court was told that Gagliardi had consumed alcohol on her flight back to London Heathrow. Her legal representative argued that she believed the alcohol would have left her system by the time she began her drive home to Surrey, a miscalculation with profound consequences.
The magistrates handed down a 20-month driving ban and a fine of nearly £1,000. The conviction serves as a stark warning to airline staff and the public alike about the dangers of misjudging the body's metabolism of alcohol, especially after international travel across time zones.
