A HAULAGE contractor was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment after pleading guilty to evading excise duty of £100,000.
Stanley Fernyhough, of Macclesfield, was stopped in Leigh using Red Diesel in one of his nine lorries.
The 54-year-old, who was also fined £500 and had his sentence suspended for two years, was charged with evading excise duty of £100,000 and contravening the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act.
His vehicle had been stopped for a routine roadside inspection in Leigh on May 10, 1999.
Following this discovery, Customs and Excise officers examined his business records and found he had been buying large amounts of rebated fuel.
On July 26, 1999, four more of Fernyhough's lorries were found to contain Red Diesel or Kerosene in their fuel tanks. All of the vehicles were seized by customs. He pleaded guilty at Bolton Crown Court on April 2,
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