Thierry Rocher, the manager at the Ritz Hotel where Diana and Dodi had been staying, told the inquest into the death of the Princess that he overheard the details of the plan which included Henri Paul driving the couple rather than a professional chauffeur, the media reported in London on Wednesday.

Rocher claimed that he knew Paul, who was the acting Director of Security at the Ritz Hotel, had been drinking before the fatal car crash on August 31, 1997. But, he said he could do nothing because of Paul's connections.

"Paul had a special relationship with the Fayed family and top management. Had any other employee been seen drinking while working, reports would have been drafted and that person surely would have been dismissed," he told the inquest jury.

French and British police had both concluded that Paul was well over the legal limit for alcohol and was driving too fast when he crashed the Mercedes carrying the couple in the Alma tunnel ten years back.

Paul was also killed in the fatal car crash.

However, Dodi's father Mohammed Al-Fayed had claimed that blood tests on Paul were falsified, and that the couple were assassinated by the British secret service on the orders of Prince Philip as they were about to get married.