Peter Nicholson died after downing so much alcohol he was more than four times the drink drive limit (Picture: Cavendish)

A British engineer died on holiday in Thailand after drinking so much alcohol that he would have been almost four and a half times over the drink driving limit.

In 36 hours Peter Nicholson shared four buckets of vodka and Red Bull and downed over 20 bottles of lager, several shots of sambuca, and Jack Daniels and cokes.

His drinking binge started at Manchester Airport before going on holiday.

The father-of-one was found to have 452 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of urine – deaths from alcohol toxicity are expected at levels of 350mg.


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He was found unresponsive the morning after he arrived in Thailand (Picture: Cavendish)

An inquest heard that Peter is unlikely to have realised how drunk he was because the ‘Thai buckets’ he was drinking from are free-pour and usually drunk through straws.

His first pint was at Manchester Airport before the first stop in Qatar. On that seven-hour flight he drank four cans of lager and four JDs and coke. After arriving in Bangkok on a connecting flight he went out with friends.

One of them, Daniel Wilson, told the inquest: ‘Peter slept most of the second journey. He was drinking a lot of water when he was waking up.

‘We had five or six bottles of lager in the afternoon when we arrived. Then we went sightseeing and both had an iced tea and looked for the other three to get ready to go out for the night.’

His drinking binge lasted for 36 hours (Picture: Cavendish)

They drank at least another 20 bottles of strong lager and shots of Sambuca over the next five and a half hours before Daniel left Peter with friends. That’s when they started on the Thai buckets.

Eventually Peter returned to the hotel but was found dead by Daniel at 9am the next morning before they were due to go to party town Pattaya.

Daniel said: ‘I didn’t want to believe what was happening. It was really cold in the room as the air con was on really low. I tickled Peter’s feet to try and get his attention but his feet were really cold. He just looked asleep.’

The hearing was told Daniel was ‘not a big drinker’ and toxicologist Julie Evans said he may not have known just how drunk he was because of the combination of vodka and Red Bull.

She said: ‘There are some concerns around the process of people consuming vodka and Red Bull. It is a stimulant. It can counter the effects of alcohol and people consume more alcohol not realising how intoxicated they are. It is called “wide-eyed drunk”.

‘When you mix Red Bull with vodka you are risking masking the effect of alcohol on the body. In the absence of any other pathological finding, the most likely cause of death is alcohol toxicity. If he was not a heavy drinker then the risk is higher at a lower concentration. He would have just gone to sleep and not woken up.’



Mr Nicholson’s mother Irene said: ‘He was a hard-working lad and very popular. He kept himself fit and would run regularly. He enjoyed going on holidays and had been to Thailand a number of times.

‘He did like to have a drink but wasn’t a heavy drinker. On the Saturday he asked if I could take his daughter. He said he was going away for two weeks and asked her what she wanted for her birthday. She said, “just surprise me dad”.’

Coroner Alison Mutch recorded a conclusion of accidental death. She said: ‘The alcohol readings are very high and carry a high risk of death. This must have been a dreadful event in your lives and very hard for us to imagine how awful it must be to wave somebody off and to see them in good health knowing they have gone on holiday to Thailand.

‘Their intention was to have a good time and everybody appeared to be having a good time and enjoying themselves but to end in such a very tragic way must be extremely difficult for all of you.’

After the hearing, Peter’s sister Joanne, 31, added: ‘He was very outgoing and almost a father-figure to me, even though I’m older. He was a brilliant dad. He loved Thailand and even had his own little sort-of family over there and they all loved him.

‘He used to go there whenever he got a chance to get away. Drinking is what people do when they go away, you just don’t expect anything like this. We all think twice now.’