BA employee is fired ‘after drinking bottles of wine before flight because she was stressed’

A drunken flight attendant who allegedly drank eight times the alcohol limit on a flight to Spain last month has claimed she drank because she was stressed.

The pilot’s wife, Deborah Merritt, 59, from Basingstoke, Hampshire, is said to have consumed bottles of wine on a British Airways flight from Heathrow to Malaga after a family incident.

A test showed she had an alcohol level of 70 mcg per 100 ml of breath, but the limit for the crew is nine mcg.

She was taken to the back of the plane and strapped into a seat before being arrested as the plane landed.

Merritt had worked for British Airways for 37 years before being fired after her arrest.

The ex-BA employee admitted a drink-related charge after a second test showed a reading of 52mcg.

Uxbridge magistrates fined her £768 with £392 costs.

Ghulam Ali defended that Merritt was stressed while dealing with a family incident.

Deborah Merritt, 59, from Basingstoke, Hampshire, admitted a drink-related charge after a second test showed a reading of 52 mcg

She had worked for British Airways for 37 years before being fired after her arrest

Mr Ali told the court that Merritt had drunk a few bottles of wine the day before, The Sun reports.

He said: ‘She thought it was going to get out of her system. She doesn’t eat that much.’

Merritt told the court: “I am devastated that I can no longer do this job.”

The Daily Mail has contacted British Airways for comment.