Mark Armstrong, 34, crept on to a London-bound Virgin Express while it was stopped at Preston's Railway Station overnight, and helped himself to the freshly restocked buffet.

The drunken thief, who walked on to the unlocked train at around 4.30am on Monday, pocketed five bottles of Beefeater gin, eight bottles of Vladivar vodka and five bottles of Teacher's whisky before downing six more mini bottles of vodka.

The hungry thief then chose a packet of Linda McCartney sausages and some bacon and cooked it for himself in the buffet cart.

Stunned staff, who had left the train unlocked whilst they cleaned it, found Armstrong tucking into the breakfast at around 5am and alerted British Transport Police.

Armstrong later told police he had downed three litres of cider in Preston city centre and missed his last train to Leyland.

He had decided to board the open train because he was cold, and insisted he had never intended to steal anything until he spotted the tempting buffet.

PC Keith Holmes, who charged the man, said: "We deal with a lot of theft but for a man to sneak on a train and cook his own breakfast is amazing – in my 20 years on the railway I have never seen anything like it.

"He had eaten the bacon when the staff found him but hadn't got round to eating the sausages. He was extremely drunk.

"He said he had boarded the train to put his feet up because it was cold and had not intended to steal but once he saw the food and booze he was tempted."

The father-of-two was hit with an anti-social behaviour injunction (ASBI) in 2007 after his booze-fuelled behaviour terrorised people in Northbrook Gardens, Leyland.

Armstrong, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to the theft and was fined £30 at Preston Magistrates Court on Monday.

The court also ordered him to pay £18.64 compensation to the train company, as well as £45 costs and a £15 victim's surcharge.

A spokesman for Virgin Trains said: "We are looking into how this gentleman got onto the train which was out of service at the time."