A captain who was drunk at the helm of a merchant ship when it collided with a passenger ferry in Belfast Lough, Ireland, was jailed for a year.
Miroslaw Pozniak, 55, pleaded guilty last month to charges including having excess alcohol by the master of a ship.
His lawyer Sean Doran told the court the captain had been drinking six or seven bottles of beer in his cabin, but said this was most uncharacteristic of him.
Judge David Smyth QC told Pozniak: “This sentence is to make it clear that the following of the regulations in relation to alcohol and also in relation to the charting and proper adherence to accepted routes is of vital importance. “The ending of your 30-year career and the sentence effectively demonstrate that.”
