A FORMER hotelier allegedly crashed his speedboat into a salmon fishfarm pen while almost twice over the drink-drive limit, a court has heard.

Christopher Main, 57, appeared in private yesterday before Portree Sheriff Court charged with the offence under the Railways and Transport Act on Loch Alsh in the Highlands.

Mr Main was also charged with culpably and recklessly steering the rib while under the influence of alcohol, failing to take adequate notice of his surroundings. It allegedly involved losing control of the rib and colliding with a fish farm leaving a passenger on the rib with a serious injury.

It also alleges there was serious damage to the pen and loss of salmon.

One of the five people on board suffered a leg injury in the incident on May 3. A lifeboat spokesman described it as an unusual incident.

Mr Main, a former owner of the Glenelg Inn, made no plea or declaration and Main was freed on bail.

A spokesman for farm owners Marine Harvest said about 200 of their valuable salmon died as a result

Several years ago a rib crashed into a fish-farm on Loch Linnhe, near Fort William, killing one of the occupants.

Loch Alsh is a sea inlet between Skye and the north-west Highlands.