A British Airways cabin steward sacked after a reported drugs binge in Bermuda has told a tabloid newspaper in the UK how he worked while high on cocaine.

Paul Henshaw said he put the lives of thousands of people at risk in mid-air ? because he was so drugged up.

He told : ?If we ever had to evacuate the plane under emergency conditions I wouldn?t have been able to perform my duties ? I would have been unable to react.

?Some days it felt like I was spilling drinks, slurring my speech and talking ten to the dozen.?

In an article printed on Sunday, he admitted he sometimes snorted cocaine less than two hours before take-off.

He added: ?I never took drugs on board the plane but made sure I?d snorted enough to get through the flight. Often if a long-haul flight was coming up, the only way I could face getting through it was by taking cocaine.?

The newspaper reported that Mr. Henshaw was sacked after three years with BA, the only non-stop airline to fly to Bermuda from the UK.

He said that he kept up his appearance to avert suspicion but admitted: ?Some days I was so high I?m surprised the passengers never noticed. To be honest, I was lucky to get away with it for so long.?

Mr. Henshaw, of south London, said some crew would have ?massive booze benders? while away, often breaking the nine-hour no-drink rule before flights. During his ?worst periods?, he claimed he spent 400 Pounds a week on cocaine.reported how he was reported by a colleague after a drugs binge in Bermuda in November last year.

The paper said that security workers at an unnamed hotel and airline staff staff kicked him out of his room on the Island and he was flown back to Gatwick Airport. He failed a drugs test and was sacked from his 28,000 Pound-a-year job earlier this year after a five-month inquiry for gross misconduct.

Attempts to contact British Airways? spokeswoman in Bermuda were unsuccessful yesterday. The airline told it could not comment on individual cases.

But it added: ?BA has a robust policy regarding the use of alcohol and drugs. It is a disciplinary offence for any employee to report for work impaired by either substance.?