Speeding drivers warned after lying motorist is jailed

12:32pm Saturday 11th November 2006

ROGUE drivers who dodge fines by claiming they were not behind the wheel when trapped by speed cameras face being caught in a crackdown by Greater Manchester Police.

Police chiefs have vowed to catch cheats after a man was jailed for two months for telling officers that a fictional South African friend was driving his car on four occasions when he was caught speeding by cameras.

Terence Peter Burke was caught four times in Greater Manchester over a 12-month period and received penalty notices asking him to pay £60 fines.

But when the letters arrived at his home in Brattay Drive, Rochdale, he returned forms to police, naming the driver of the car at the time of the offences as Donald Jardine, of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Bolton Crown Court heard yesterday that Mr Jardine did not exist. Police became suspicious when they wrote to Mr Jardine at an address in Turffontein, Johannesburg, but recieved no reply.

After the third ticket, officers asked Burke, a 50-year-old lorry driver, to provide Mr Jardine's insurance details.

He was interviewed in May and confessed to inventing Mr Jardine.

Burke is one of dozens of people who have been caught trying to avoid fines in Greater Manchester in the last 18 months.

Chief Insp Haydn Roberts said: "Some people are going to quite extreme measures to make sure they aren't given fines.

"This case shows that people are willing to repeatedly lie, but we will scrutinise the response to any penalty notice tickets which we feel are not genuine.

"People who lie to avoid a fine of £60 are risking a maximum 10-year prison sentence for perverting the course of justice."

Chief Insp Roberts said that in the last 18 months, 26 drivers have been cautioned for lying to police, 31 have been charged and further 28 prosecutions are pending.

Burke pleaded guilty to four counts of perverting the course of justice.

His BMW 518 was captured going at 43mph on November 14, 2004, and 39mph on July 2, 2005, on the A62 Oldham Road in Miles Platting, which is a 30mph zone.

The car was seen travelling at 48mph on September 15 and 39mph on September 17 last year, on the A664 Rochdale Road in Manchester.

When questioned by officers, he said: "I realise how serious it is now, it was stupid.

"At the time I just thought it was part of the game, everyone was doing it. Well, everyone is doing it, aren't they?"

Sentencing Burke, Judge Simon Killeen said he was guilty of a "deliberate deception". He added: "The courts treat these offences very seriously because they are offences against the course of justice."