THE STEWARD at a Conservative club collapsed and later died from alcohol poisoning minutes after a ‘shot drinking contest’ at the bar, an inquest has heard.

Douglas Harold, 62, had worked at Earby Conservative Club on Victoria Road, for 13 years.

Mr Harold, who was known as Dougie, was in the bar on the evening of December 27 and had enjoyed ‘a few drinks’ with customers and friends.

He had previously suffered from heart problems and was being treated for high blood pressure and a blood clot on his leg which had been diagnosed just before Christmas.

The vice-president of the club, Stefan Irodenko was a friend of Mr Harold.

He told a coroners’ court in Burnley that when he entered the club at around 9.45pm Mr Harold was enjoying a night off and relaxing with customers.

He said: “Dougie enjoyed a drink.

“But he could certainly handle it. I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary about him that night.”

Mr Irodenko went on to say that around 11.45pn he had noticed Mr Harold having a drinking contest, downing shots of Jagermeister with ‘one of the young lads at the bar’.

Around 10 to 15 minutes later he collapsed near the club’s doorway and could not be revived.

A pathologist’s report noted that his blood alcohol limit was more than four times the drink drive limit.

That was enough to be fatal and he gave the cause of death as alcohol toxicity.

Coroner Richard Taylor recorded a verdict of misadventure on the death of Mr Harold.