Petrol addict threatened with jail after again being caught drinking from pumps

A petrol addict has again been caught getting his tipple of choice from garages. Serial offender Brian Taylor, 45, was banned from petrol stations for sneaking onto the forecourts and attacking the pumps to get a sniff or drink of unleaded. Taylor’s unusual thirst first emerged in 2005. Since then he has repeatedly breached an Anti Social Behaviour Order (Asbo) designed to keep him away from petrol stations.

Over the years his addiction has seen him terrorise staff and customers after cutting fuel pipes, sniffing or drinking petrol and dancing around while high on the fumes. Over the festive season he reached his order twice in one day. A court heard how Taylor was arrested after he went to two different petrol stations in  Redcar in order to satisfy his bizarre addiction. He appeared before Teesside Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday and admitted two offences of breaching his Asbo. Prosecutor Guy Prest said Taylor was the subject of an Asbo with specific prohibitions designed to keep him away from petrol station forecourts.



Mr Prest said the defendant had a history of “attacking petrol pumps, obtaining petrol and consuming it”. The court heard how Taylor was spotted by staff at Morrisons on December 30 approaching the pumps in a bid to obtain petrol. The same day he also went to a Tesco petrol station. Police were called and he was arrested. Mr Prest said Taylor’s record was a substantial aggravating feature. He was also the subject of a community order. Amy Dixon, mitigating, said Taylor accepted he had “taken the drips from the petrol pumps”, adding: “It is not a particularly sophisticated offence.”

She said the defendant’s life seemed to be “a lot more settled than it has been in recent years” and he was attending appointments with the probation service. Taylor, of Brotton, North Yorkshire, was given a 16-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months and told to pay £120 in costs and victim surcharge. The chairman of the magistrates told Taylor he was disappointed to see him back in court again and warned him: “You put one foot wrong now and you are going to go away.”