A FORMER police worker has been accused of perverting the course of justice by cancelling fixed penalty notices.

Zaheer Patel, 22, of May Street, Blackburn, this week appeared before the town's magis-trates and now faces a trial at crown court.

He is charged with eight counts of perv-erting the course of justice and having a false driving licence in his possession.

Patel was arrested on July 21 and has since resigned from the police force.

He was a worker in the police fixed penalty office, Walker Park, which deals with fines when low level offences are not prosecuted in court.

This includes offences such as speeding, using a mobile phone whilst driving and driving without insurance.

Patel had been employed by Lancashire Constabulary five years before he resigned.

The allegations are that he cancelled the fines in the names of Adam Patel, twice, Zakar Hussain, Michael Young, Benjamin Langford, Muhammad Imran, Ahmed Razzaq and Looqman Mulla.

The charges date from September 21 through to July 13 this year, with the false driving licence possession offence said to have occurred on July 21.

At the same court hearing, Looqman Mulla, 27, of Belgrave Close, Blackburn, had appeared with Patel charged with cancelling a fixed penalty notice for speeding in his own name with intent to pervert the course of public justice.

Both men were sent on bail to appear at Preston Crown Court in March 2011.

A police spokesman confirmed the charges and said Patel had been working for the force for five years.

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