Man bought £27,000 worth of fuel using company card

Steven Green, 45, began working as a driver for a shed company in Wisbech in July 2018.

As part of the job, drivers had access to cards to enable them to buy fuel for company vehicles.

One month later in August 2018, Green’s employment with the company ended and he was asked to hand over all company property.

However, unbeknown to his former employer, Green kept one of the fuel cards and over the coming months between September 2018 and April last year purchased a grand total of £27,268.65 worth of fuel with the card.

Company bosses noticed the large amount after reviewing the card balances in April last year and immediately cancelled the card.

Police investigating the incident visited the petrol stations in Guyhirn and Wisbech where the transactions had taken place and staff were able to verify Green was the person behind the purchases.

However, they only had CCTV footage for the last month, so officers were only able to obtain footage of Green’s final month of purchases.

During the officers’ visits to the petrol stations, it was also confirmed that Green had purchased a final £255 worth of fuel and when the card was declined he left without paying and said he would speak to his boss about the issue.

Officers from Norfolk Constabulary also confirmed they had done a stop check on Green in their area in January 2019 and reported he had a number of empty 25 litre containers in his vehicle.

During police interview, Green, of Chapel Avenue, Wisbech, answered no comment, but later pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation and making off without payment.

He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for 18 months at Cambridge Crown Court on Monday (October 19).

He was also ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work and 50 days rehabilitation activity requirement.

Detective Constable, Ahmed Ishaq, who investigated, said: “It’s clear Green thought he could get away with using the fuel card and nothing was going to stop him until the company cancelled the card.

“He has defrauded the company out of a substantial amount of money and I am glad justice has been done.”