Daniel James Jones was handed the sentence in Port Kembla Local Court in September, just days after he was arrested over the bizarre, early morning hustle.

Police facts tendered to the court said a witness rang police after seeing Jones attempting to load the parking meter into a station wagon on Kembla St around 5am on September 14.    

Police arrived a short time later to discover the parking meter lying in the middle of the roadway with “obvious scrape marks leading from a hole in the footpath grassed area on the eastern side [of the road]”.

Officers then saw Jones and a woman approaching them on foot, observing that Jones was “sweating”, “out of breath” and had dirt over his forearms, leading them to believe he’d been handling the base of the parking meter which still had soil attached to it.

However, Jones told the officers he’d almost driven into the meter and had stopped to get it off the road.

Unconvinced, police placed Jones under arrest. He later admitted to trying to jemmy the cash box off before ripping the parking meter from the ground using a snatch strap tied to his car.

Police also found a home-made firearm under a seat in his car and a plastic bag containing ammunition in Jones’ pocket.

In the NSW District Court on Thursday, Jones’ lawyer, Matthew Ward, said his client had developed a daily ice habit after the deaths of both his grandmother and mother in recent years.

He sought to have Jones’ sentence reduced, however Judge Norman Delaney refused the request, saying if the application proceeded, he would increase the length of the sentence.

“I think he was very leniently dealt with,” Judge Delaney said.

Jones withdrew the appeal and the eight-month sentence was confirmed.