A man has been jailed for 15 months after admitting setting fuel alight on a forecourt.
Daniel Lockyer was convicted of one count of arson reckless as to whether life was endangered at the MRH-owned Gulf fuel station at Egham in Surrey.
Guildford Crown Court was told that Lockyer, a chef, was dropped off by a taxi at the petrol station at around 4am on Sunday August 10 last year.
Lockyer was a regular customer and was allowed into the shop by the cashier, but he realised the chef was drunk and was not happy with his behaviour, so when Lockyer left the shop he locked the door, the court heard.
Lockyer became angry when he could not get back in and tried to rip the service till from the wall. He then went to a petrol pump, put two nozzles together and lit some fuel that had dripped on the floor. The flames went up to about 30cm high for around five seconds.
Lockyer was so drunk he could not even remember what had happened until police showed him CCTV footage of what he had done, the court was told.
Jailing him for 15 months, Judge Christopher Critchlow said: “Under the influence of having consumed a significant amount of alcohol you put the nozzles of two petrol pumps together and you lit the petrol.
“That was obviously an extremely dangerous thing to do. You don’t seem to recall much about it and in your condition no doubt did not realise clearly what you were doing and the peril that you were putting other people in. There could have been a huge explosion. Fortunately there was not.”
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