A GARAGE in Soham was targeted by David Ayres when he fraudulently used a company fuel card. Ayres, who believed his former employers still owed him around £600, obtained almost £200 worth of fuel by using their card at the BP Downfields Garage three time

A GARAGE in Soham was targeted by David Ayres when he fraudulently used a company fuel card.

Ayres, who believed his former employers still owed him around £600, obtained almost £200 worth of fuel by using their card at the BP Downfields Garage three times in two days.

Appearing at Ely courthouse on Thursday, Ayres was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid community work.

He had admitted seven charges of dishonestly obtaining fuel by using a Shell agency fuel card, and asked for three further offences to be taken into consideration.

Ayres, 47, of Bill Rickaby Drive, Newmarket, had worked as a fitter for an insulation company in Cambridge, and left in March 2006, said prosecutor Angela Sassoli.

Directors noticed that during a 16-day period in September 2006 a company fuel card issued to someone else had had been used a number of times, and the police launched an investigation.

CCTV images taken from various garages identified Ayres, and he was arrested.

Mitigating, solicitor Adam Hazelhurst said: "He was owed money by the company, and they made excuses why they did not pay.

"It is perhaps understandable because he was owed £600, and the total amount of fuel he bought was just shy of that.

"He was simply recouping what he believed he was owed, but accepts it was wrong."

Ayres was ordered to pay £588.88 compensation and £100 costs.