A HAULAGE contractor was due to be sentenced today after pleading guilty to evading excise duty of £100,000.

Stanley Fernyhough, of Hilly Lees Farm, Macclesfield, was stopped in Leigh using red diesel in one of his nine lorries.

The 54-year-old 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.

Customs and Excise officers also 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, 2001.