Container ship captain, 65, who was drunk while in charge of 8,000-ton vessel which he brought into a dock is sacked from the job and fined £600

• Piotr Gruszecki, 65, was drunk on duty in charge of 8,273 ton BG Rotterdam ship
• His alcohol levels were double the legal amount causing a pilot to call the police
• He pleaded guilty at Southampton Magistrates court today
• Gruszecki was handed a fine of £600 and ordered to pay £180 in court costs 

The captain of a container ship was charged by the police, fined and sacked after he was found drunk on duty.

Piotr Gruszecki, 65, was in charge of a 8,273 ton BG Rotterdam ship when he pulled into Southampton dock, gate 20 on September, 20, 2019. 

Gruszecki, a captain of 25 years, said he had gone to sleep drunk, and when he woke up, he ‘thought he was fine’.

Pilot Edward Woodhouse boarded the ship to help with docking but called the police when he could smell alcohol on Gruszecki. 

Piotr Gruszecki, 65, pleaded guilty after he was caught in charge of a 8,273 ton BG Rotterdam ship on September, 20, 2019 drunk

The police found 110 micrograms of alcohol in his blood.  

He pleaded guilty to a charge at Southampton Magistrates today of being a master on duty with alcohol in his blood above the limit. 

When officers tested Gruszecki’s blood the analysis showed 110 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

Prosecuting, Charles Nightingale told the court the shipping limit for alcohol levels is 50, unlike most vehicles, which is 80.

The court heard that having been sacked he had been forced to sell his home and car in Poland and he and his wife now live with his mother-in-law in Poland.

The 13-year-old BG Rotterdam container ship weighs 8,273 tonnes

He was fined £600 and ordered to pay £180 in court costs after losing his home and car. 

Magistrate Kevin White said: ‘He is aware of the stupid set of decisions he made that day.

‘He had been drinking because of high levels of work frustration.

‘Sadly, we are not unfamiliar with masters of ships drinking. If it had been a yacht, it would have been serious, but a thousand-ton Rotterdam ship is beyond the pale.

‘We have heard that the termination of your employment has had very serious consequences for you and your family.

‘But I want you to know that I and everyone here have absolutely no sympathy for you. I think you know how serious it is for a master of a ship to be drunk on duty.’

 Gruszecki, who was 63 at the time, had an ‘impeccable’ previous record in his 25 years of being a captain.

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