A man from Plymouth who was caught speeding attempted to blame his actions on a fictitious Mexican man called Carlos De La Vega.
Michael Tatem has since pleaded guilty to willingly making a false statement. The 64-year-old from Gulworthy in Tavistock was snapped by a camera driving his Alfa Romeo at 53mph in a 40mph zone.
In a desperate attempt to clear his name, he insisted to police that he in fact was not the driver at the time – it was a Mexican man that he had not seen for many years.
Mr Tatem filled in paper work with more false details including an address for De La Vega, which police later found out to be a bunker in Mexico. The court was told how the authorities spent hours on a wild goose chase, wasting valuable police time looking for non-existent evidence.
After failing to provide any hard evidence that the imaginary Mexican existed, such as an email address, photograph or proof of insurance, Mr Tatem was found out and charged.
PC Dave Williams, the officer at the Safety Camera Partnership who investigated the case, had this to say following the court hearing: "Even though I spoke to Mr Tatem he continued to stick to this incredible story that he allowed a man who he hadn't seen for many years, and had by chance met in London, to go to his house while Mr Tatem stayed in London and use his car throughout Plymouth and Cornwall.
"Mr Tatem eventually admitted he was the driver and the photos we have show that."
He will be sentenced on September 13.
With the EU revealing plans to install speed limiters in all cars earlier this week, incidents such as this one may be a thing of the past in years to come. You can read more about that here.
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