A railway guard who downed half a bottle of vodka while on duty and failed to let passengers off the train admitted putting lives at risk, a court heard.

Patrick Coyne, from Morden, was so drunk he was incapable of operating the doors on the South West Trains’ Waterloo to Kingston service.

The 40-year-old was eventually arrested at Wimbledon station.

At one point during his shift, the guard signalled for his driver to pull out of a station, despite a red light indicating the vehicle must not go any further.

On Monday at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court Coyne pleaded guilty to endangering the safety of his passengers.

He was handed a 20-week suspended sentence.

The court heard the Tudor Drive resident bought a bottle of vodka and two beers before beginning his late shift on November 4 last year.

Passengers became angry at about midnight when Coyne failed to open the doors and let them off at Barnes station. The court was told he also failed to spot a red light at St Margaret’s station.

At one stage the passengers banged on the door to the driver’s cab to try and get his attention, but the driver assumed they were drunk and ignored them.

He was eventually persuaded to investigate, and stopped the train for half an hour at Mortlake station before continuing on to Wimbledon where Coyne was arrested.

A spokesman for South West Trains said the guard was fit for duty when he signed in for work. He said the company had a strict ban on drugs and alcohol for all staff and this was enforced through random testing.

He said: “As a result of the incident, the member of staff involved was dealt with according to our internal disciplinary procedures and no longer works for South West Trains."

Coyne pleaded guilty to endangering the safety of a person conveyed by railway due to being over the alcohol limit.