A New Year reveller made persistent attempts to start a fire at a petrol station with potentially "devastating" consequences after his early release from jail.

More than 68,000 litres of fuel were stored in underground tanks at the filling station where repeat offender Jason Wilson carried out his crime with homes and a large hotel nearby.

Wilson, 25, tried unsuccessfully to ignite residual petrol in hoses at the pumps of the garage on Dean Road in Bo'ness near Falkirk, which had closed for business, and started a fire in a bin.

At one stage he returned to the premises on Dean Road smoking a cigarette and tried to insert it into one of the nozzles.

Advocate depute David Taylor told the High Court in Edinburgh: "Because of modern security equipment it is difficult to set fire to a petrol station with a lit cigarette or to set fire to the premises in such a way as to cause underground fuel reserves to be ignited.

"But had the fire taken hold and generated a significant blaze, spreading to the forecourt canopy and each of the pumps, it could potentially have reached the underground tanks with devastating consequences."

The prosecutor said if gas cylinders at the site had been exposed to a rapid increase in heat or direct flames it could lead to an explosion, scattering hot metal debris over a large area.

He said: "Given the considerable amount of combustible materials present - petrol, diesel, gas cylinders, firelighters, BBQ lighter fluid, paraffin - such a fire would have caused nearby properties to be threatened by fire spread, smoke and toxic fumes and a danger of explosion and the need for evacuation."

The advocate depute added: "Any firefighter called to deal with any conflagration which had arisen from such an incident would themselves have been exposed to considerable risk."

Unemployed Wilson was caught on CCTV going round the petrol pumps and trying to empty them on the ground.

Mr Taylor said: "Throughout the incident the accused appeared extremely drunk, having difficulty walking and maintaining his footing."

Wilson admitted culpable and reckless conduct by placing a fuel nozzle in a bin and deliberately setting fire to the bin, putting a lit cigarette in a nozzle and pushing over a cage containing gas canisters to the danger of the public on January 1 at Malthurst Fuels, Bo'ness.

The court heard Wilson had 32 previous convictions and in July last year was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment for vandalism, police assault and threatening behaviour. He was released weeks before his latest crime.

Wilson, of no fixed abode, has previously been jailed for culpable and reckless conduct for throwing a four-year-old boy out of a window and for fire-raising when he set fire to a victim's hair and the door of a public toilet.

Mr Taylor said the filling station was closed for the evening on Hogmanay and the fuel pumps were closed off and secured.

In the early hours, a member of the public rang police saying a man in dark clothing was throwing petrol hoses about on the forecourt.

Officers found Wilson near the garage and he told them he had "smashed up the petrol station".

They could see nozzles lying about but no obvious damage. Wilson was detained and found to have a lighter.

When the manager arrived later that morning he reviewed CCTV footage which revealed the extent of Wilson's actions.

He was seen to drag a bin over to a pump and tried to empty diesel nozzles into it. He did the same with a petrol nozzle and left it in the bin and then used a lighter to set fire to the contents.

Wilson ran off but the fire went out and he returned and tried to insert a lit cigarette into a petrol nozzle.

Defence counsel Derick Nelson said Wilson has since been held in Barlinnie Prison in Glasgow, where has been in touch with the mental health team.

The judge, Lord Brailsford, said: "I am delighted to hear that modern day petrol stations don't go on fire very easily."

He deferred sentence on Wilson for reports and ordered that he be remanded in custody.