Drunk Hotel Guest Floods Three Floors of a Scottish Hotel, Water Seeped From Light Fixtures and Plugs

The Elgin Travelodge, where a drunk hotel guest unintentionally caused flooding mayhem with a running shower and a fallen towel. Photo: Google Maps

In a drastically escalating series of events, a drunk guest at a hotel in Elgin, Scotland returned to his room after getting takeout to discover that he accidentally flooded three floors and rendered the entire fire alarm system non-operational.

The incident began simply enough when Ben Pirie ordered a taxi to collect and bring him some take-out food from town. When the taxi arrived, he was told he’d have to ride with the driver.

He got in the car, forgetting that he had left a shower running in his room, further unaware that a towel had fallen and obstructed the drain hole.

By the time he got back to the Elgin Travelodge with his meal, fire alarms were blazing and water was gushing from light fittings, fixtures, outlets and carpets. He was promptly told that he was “no longer welcome at the establishment.”

As it turned out, hotel staff were alerted to the emerging incident when a fire alarm was triggered and guests began reporting water leakage from above. They were quickly able to find Pirie’s room.

“Staff members observed the carpet was saturated in water and the shower basin was flooded with water flowing over the top,” fiscal deputy Naomi Duffy-Welsh said.

“Due to the water flowing between the three floors, the fire alarm system for the building became faulty, setting off various alarms throughout the building and causing more than 100 faults on the system – rendering the whole system non-operational.”

“This left the building unsafe,” said Duffy-Welsh.

Pirie ended up admitting to an amended charge of culpable conduct, his defense attorney saying that he had been “reckless whilst under the influence of alcohol.”

In perhaps the most surprising twist of all, Pirie was informed that the total cost of damages incurred by the hotel only amounted to $761 USD.

Pirie was ordered to pay back the hotel the damages along with a small fine.

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