A 47-year-old man has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for holding a lighter next to a petrol pump and threatening to burn down a forecourt in Cambridge.
Mark Guy had previously been banned from the filling station, and when staff refused to serve him on the evening of January 10, 2024, he banged on the night-hatch glass before walking towards the site’s pumps.
There, he lifted a nozzle and ignited his lighter while making threats to “burn the place up”. Staff at the forecourt telephoned the police, at which point Guy made off.
Police identified Guy, of Monkswell, Trumpington, and arrested him when he returned to the same forecourt three months later.
Guy was handed a 15-month custodial sentence at Peterborough Crown Court after pleading guilty to attempted arson.
DC Lara Wycherley, who investigated the incident on behalf of Cambridgeshire Police, commented: “Guy could not accept he had been banned from the filling station, and quickly became aggressive and threatening towards staff who were just trying to do their job.
“Thankfully no-one was harmed, but Guy is very lucky that his reckless actions didn’t end differently.”
