Peter Noble's 15-year sentence for causing the deaths by dangerous driving was reduced to 10 years on Monday.

Heather Rodgers, a relative of one of the victims, said her family was "disgusted" by the decision.

Noble was heading for his eighth pub

Appeal judge Lord Justice Keene described it as a "horrendous" case and said Noble's "arrogance" when he claimed he was capable of driving after drinking 13 pints of lager was "breathtaking".

But he and the other judges decided that the original sentence was inappropriate.

Noble, now 41, of Thorpe Salvin, South Yorkshire, was two and a half times over the legal limit after an eight-hour "motorised pub crawl" when the Toyota Landcruiser he was driving collided with a Daewoo car on the opposite side of the road.

He had three previous drink-driving convictions and was banned at the time of the accident.

It's a travesty of justice

Heather Rodgers Victim's relative

Three members of the Holmes family died - Roy Holmes, 79, his wife Audrey 69, and daughter-in-law, Diane, 47.

They had been travelling back from a family 21st birthday in the Daewoo when Noble's Toyota ploughed into them.

Ms Rodgers, a relative of Diane Holmes, was at the court to hear the appeal verdict.

High speed

"It's a travesty of justice that a repeat offender of drink driving like Peter Noble can have his sentence reduced by five years," she said.

She added: "The judge said there was an element of chance but those chances are much greater when you behave like this man does by drinking so much."

Victim David Wood was a friend of Noble's

When Noble was sentenced in March 2001, it was the longest sentence in British legal history for causing death by dangerous driving.

Noble's lawyers argued during the appeal that 15 years was so "out of proportion and scale" for sentences imposed for that type of serious offence as to be "wrong in principle".

Three appeal court judges accepted their argument that Noble should not have been sentenced consecutively and ordered his sentences to run concurrently.

It is natural that there should be widespread feelings of outrage over someone driving after consuming 13 pints and other drinks, driving while disqualified and fleeing the scene

Lord Justice Keene

Lord Justice Keene said the highest total sentence the court could find which had previously been imposed in a case involving multiple deaths was one of eight years.

But he added: "We emphasise that the total sentence should take account of the number of deaths involved."

He said the evidence in Noble's case revealed a "quite shocking course of conduct".

'Families' hell'

Noble "ran off after the accident without trying to help those who had been hurt in it and then blamed someone else", the judge said.

The jury at Sheffield Crown Court last year heard how Noble had driven at speeds of up to 80mph just moments before the fatal crash.

Three passengers in the Toyota also lost their lives.

Victim Dennis Royston had three children

John Heywood, 42, David Wood, 35, and father-of-three Dennis Royston, 36, were Noble's friends.

Jane Evason, secretary of the Campaign Against Drinking and Driving (CADD), said the new sentence amounted to less than two years for each life.

"I can really, really feel for those six families," she said.

"They have got to put up with hell for their entire lives - they're serving the life sentences now."

An attempt by Noble to challenge his lifelong driving ban was rejected by the judges to "protect the public".