A Crymych man fled from a petrol station without paying for his fuel, a court has heard.

Jack Bridge, of Taylor’s Row, Hermon, pleaded guilty to stealing fuel from a petrol station when he appeared before Haverfordwest magistrates from custody on Tuesday, May 28.

Dennis Davies, prosecuting, said Bridge, 31, put £28.60 of petrol in his car then drove away from the Tesco filling station in Carmarthen without offering payment on July 28, 2017.

Police located the vehicle in the Bridgend area and Bridge was arrested.

David Elvy, defending, said: “At the time of this offence his lifestyle was rather different to how it is now. He was associating with a group of people with fairly anti-social issues.

“He was short of money. He needed to make a journey and did not have sufficient funds to pay for the fuel, so he put it in the car and drove off.”

Mr Elvy said Bridge had now turned his life around and had a job working as a parts advisor in Pembroke.

“He has no need to behave in the way that he did in 2017.”

The court heard that Bridge knew there was a warrant out for his arrest and left his property when police called, but then went back and waited for the officers to return.

Magistrates fined Bridge £140 and ordered him to pay £28.60 compensation, £85 costs and a £30 surcharge.