Sacked Desborough HGV driver bought fuel worth £3,000 on company card in unpaid wages row

Stephen Williamson was before Northampton Crown Court after admitting four counts of fraud, one of making off without payment and one of failing to surrender.

The 34-year-old of Nichols Street, Desborough, was working for Cars in Camera, a specialist transport firm that moves vehicles for the TV and film industry.

Northampton Crown Court heard that because of the number of miles the transporters clocked up, the vehicles sometimes only last three years. But he had been driving a transporter around 20 years old when it broke down.

But after the transporter was towed away, Williamson was told not to come back to work just before Christmas 2023.

So in January 2024 he went to garages on January 12, 14, and 16, drawing fuel worth about £600 each time on his company credit card.

On January 18 he went to the Shell Garage in Kettering Road, Northampton, and the fuel card had been cancelled. He drove off after taking fuel worth £650.80.

Mitigating for Williamson, Michael Fullerton, said that his client was paid just £192 when he was allegedly owed £3,000.

"He inappropriately decided, rather than take that matter to the small claims court, to obtain it by going to get diesel which he would then sell on,” he said.

He told the court that Williamson had faced difficulties after the death of his good friend in a motorbike accident.

Williamson had been driving lorries since he was 20 but as a result of cocaine abuse, he lost his licence.

He had recently reapplied for the return of his licence, was free of drugs and had settled down with a partner.

The court was told that he had previous convictions from between 2009 and 2013, as well as one of making off without payment in 2023. He also failed to surrender to the court back in September last year.

He was given 26 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months. He was given 30 rehabilitation activity days and ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work.