DIRECTORS at a North Yorkshire fuel company said they no longer believed in the British justice system after a former employee who admitted stealing more than £1,200 from them escaped a prison sentence.

Barry Hall and Bill Hyde, directors of Ebor Fuels Ltd, Laveracks Industrial Estate, Elvington, spoke out after former fuel delivery driver Christopher Bradbury was given a community punishment order at a hearing at York Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Bradbury, 35, of Hull Road, Dunnington, York, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to three counts of stealing money, which had been paid to him by customers for delivered fuel and which he was supposed to have handed over to the company.

Bradbury, a father-of-two, asked for three similar offences to be considered, with the amount stolen totalling £1,235.91.

For Bradbury, Damien Morrison said the money had not been touched and would be paid back to the company immediately.

Mr Morrison said: "Mr Bradbury is at a loss to explain why, after so many years of gainful employment, he would have behaved in this way.

"There was disenchantment with his employers. There were the significant hours that Mr Bradbury was working. He did ask to go to a member of his wife's family's funeral and he was not allowed to do so. "There was a degree of resentment, but he accepts that he shouldn't have behaved the way he did." Adrian Strong, prosecuting, said that Bradbury had booked the time off for the funeral but had then decided not to attend.

Bradbury was ordered to carry out 240 hours of community service, to pay compensation of £1,235.91 to his former employers and to pay court costs of £40. After the sentencing, company director Barry Hall said: "We don't believe in British justice. We hoped he was going to go to prison. We are a small company with five drivers, we have only been going for four years and this has had a real impact on us. We trusted him (Bradbury) completely and this is how we have been repaid."

Updated: 09:56 Saturday, May 31, 2003