A SPEEDING ticket ‘fixer’ facing jail for helping scores of drivers avoid prosecution has claimed his crimes were ‘acts of kindness’.

But former security guard Wajif Rafique has been slammed by police who said his actions were illegal and a ‘kick in the teeth for law-abiding motorists’.

Rafique, 33, helped motorists caught speeding to avoid points and fines by claiming fictitious people were driving at the time of the offence.

Yesterday Rafique pleaded guilty to 43 counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice and is facing jail.

But speaking outside court he said he had helped drivers get off the hook '750 times' over the past three years.

Detective Inspector Dave Groombridge, head of Pendle CID, said that Rafique’s popularity, as a speeding ticket fixer, had spread around the Pendle and Burnley via 'word of mouth'.

“No one likes to get speeding tickets but the vast majority of people pay them and take the points on their licence,” said Mr Groombridge.

“This is a real kick in the teeth for genuine law-abiding motorists who have to pay out: it is wrong and it is illegal. ”

Rafique, of Cobden Street, Nelson, said his actions were acts of kindness 'for the benefit of the people' and that he set out to gain nothing for himself.

Police said motorists were believed to have handed over between £100 and £300 each to avoid the speeding points.

On that basis, if Rafique had helped 750 people he could have recouped £75,000.

Jobless Rafique would not go so far as to say he 'did not make a penny' out of his dishonesty, but said he just got 'treats' such as furniture.

He said he mainly carried out his services 'free of charge' and that 'middle men' made the money.

He said: "If I had wanted to make a vast amount of money out of it I could have done. I could have made thousands and thousands."

"I like to do people a favour and I started all this because it happened to me.

"Three points meant a lot to me. I did this for myself and because it worked, the word started to spread.

"I am the main man but I did not gain any money. My house is rented and my car is worth £250.

"Would I be driving that car if I had made a lot of money?"

Rafique said he thought he was 'doing a very good thing'.

He now concedes that it was 'totally wrong', but claimed none of his 'client base' had been doing more than 15 mph over the speed limit.

"I did not know it was like a criminal offence," he said.

"If I had known the consequences of this, leading up to this and appearing in court, I would have put a stop to it. I do regret what I have done.

"These speed cameras are there for a reason, to keep the speed down. Ten miles extra is not much. It's not a big deal.

"Most of them were doing under 10 miles an hour over the limit.

"If someone was doing more than 15 mph over, I refused them."

Rafique and a number of motorists were arrested in police swoops last year following a three-month special investigation codenamed Operation Amethyst.

He is said to have returned notices of intended prosecution received by speeding drivers to police with fictitious names, but using real addresses in the Nelson area.

Rafique did not use fake driving licence numbers, and the recipients at the real addresses would throw the letters away, leaving the driver caught speeding in the clear.

But eventually his crimes caught up with him when the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety and the police picked up on the pattern.

Rafique had been due to face trial accused of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

But yesterday the prosecution offered no evidence and he has now been cleared of two conspiracy charges.

He admitted 43 counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice and yesterday pleaded guilty to five separate allegations of theft by finding, between 2004 and 2009.

Thirteen drivers involved in the speeding ruse have already been sentenced to community orders, after admitting attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The defendant was bailed until July 28 for a pre-sentence report.

He must live at his home address, not attempt to leave the UK, not apply for travel documents to leave the country and must report to Nelson Police Station.