A garage cashier was alarmed in the early hours to see a man holding a petrol pump and flicking a lighter, a court heard.

Drunk Sebastian Hajdula had a cigarette in his mouth but he was squeezing the pump and trying to light the end of it, as other customers were filling up.

The cashier, Adrian Russell, quickly shut the pump to avoid a conflagration at the Shell garage in Burnham Road, Dartford.

He told Maidstone Crown Court: “There are four tanks that hold 33,000 litres of fuel. If that had gone up there would not have been a garage.”

“There are four tanks that hold 33,000 litres of fuel. If that had gone up there would not have been a garage” - Adrian Russell

Hajdula, of Perry Street, Gravesend, denied attempted arson, being reckless as to whether life was endangered, claiming he was too drunk to form the necessary intent.

But the Polish-born 42-year-old father was convicted by a 10-2 majority and was jailed for 15 months.

Prosecutor Warwick Tatford told the jury: “This offence is a worrying one. Fortunately, it was only an attempt.”

Hajdula, a fruit picker who has been in the UK about two years, had been to the service station earlier on November 28 last year to buy vodka but was so inebriated that Mr Russell pretended he did not have any.

He returned at about 5.30am and went to the pump.

Mr Tatford said: “He appeared to be lighting the end of the pump. It was a quite astonishing thing he was trying to do.

“If you think for a split second how dangerous that is… the whole petrol station is likely to go up. He was clearly not thinking properly. He was squeezing the trigger on the end of the pump while trying to light the cigarette.

“He was trying to light the fumes. You may think something as mad and crazy as that would be reckless as to whether life was endangered.”

Mr Tatford said CCTV “frustratingly” did not show Hajdula at the pump. The defendant behaved like a drunken idiot,” he added. “He was unpleasant to people. He lay on the floor when police tried to interview him.

“He said he was so drunk he couldn’t remember what happened that night.

Mr Russell said there were about three customers at some of the six pumps.

“I was talking to a customer,” he said. “He’s gone: ‘What’s he doing?’ The screen started beeping. I saw the man squatting down. He had the pump out.

“I had seen him a few times that evening. He has got the pump in his right hand.

“He has got a lighter in his left hand. He has got a cigarette in his mouth.

“He was trying to light the cigarette using the lighter and the pump. He was squeezing the trigger. My screens were telling me.

“Automatically, I shut the pump down.

“I didn’t shut the garage down. There were one or two customers fuelling up. I didn’t want to cause panic and mayhem.

“I was very concerned for the customers. I got straight on the phone to the police.

“I had seen him generally three or four times a week. He was fine – a lovely man. He used to come and buy vodka.”

Krystelle Wass, defending, said Hajdula drank to excess but was able to hold down a job.

“Had this all gone horribly wrong it would have been him who lost his life,” she said.

“I would hope it would be a serious wake-up call. He accepts he needs help.”