Author Frederick Forsyth has compared the Metropolitan Police to the Stasi and accused the force of “hounding an old codger” over a speeding ticket rather than solving burglaries.
The Day of the Jackal writer, 84, was caught by a speed camera in October and says he paid a fine for driving 7mph over the 30mph limit.
However the best-selling writer and journalist has been hauled before a court after an administrative error — which he insists the Met is to blame for. Forsyth took to his typewriter to bash out an indignant letter to the magistrate, including the suggestion that the police force has not got its priorities in order.
“Fifty years ago, being bilingual in German, I used to slip through the Berlin Wall on errands for the Firm,” wrote Forsyth, in a reference to his work for MI6. The East German Stasis would salivate with envy if they had had the surveillance powers of the Met today.
“So in a capital with 500 unsolved burglaries, there are ample time wherewithal and staff to hound an old codger driving at seven mph over the limit. As Huxley remarked; Ah, brave new world!!”
Forsyth revealed in his 2015 autobiography that he operated as an agent for MI6 in East Germany, as well as the Nigerian region of Biafra, and South Africa while working as a journalist. He said in 1973 he was called on to collect a package from a Russian colonel “working for us deep inside East Germany”.
Forsyth was behind the wheel of his black Suzuki when he was caught out on the A40 near Paddington Green on October 31 last year. The speed limit on that stretch of road has been recently cut from 40mph to 30mph, with scores of drivers each week being fined for driving too fast.
Forsyth had a solitary reader in mind when he wrote to the court, addressing his note: “Dear Mr Stipendiary” — a historic term for a paid magistrate.
“I regret having to take up your valuable time but have no choice,” he wrote.
“Overhead gantry cameras spotted my little runabout pootling along an urban motorway at 37mph unaware speed reduction cameras had changed the rating from 40mph to 30mph. I had simply missed the sign.” Forsyth said he admitted the offence and paid a fine — “end of story — I thought”, but was then alerted to an “error” which the Met blamed on him.
“They claim my driving licence number was not on one of the forms. Not true,” he wrote. “I enclose a photocopy of the form, submitted well in time, with driving licence number identified with an asterisk.
“Now the claim is that without this number the settlement was invalid and I am therefore over-time-limit. The fine is cancelled and being returned to me and my case referred to your court.”
Forsyth added in a plea to the court: “I must ask you to reimpose the fine, which I will pay immmediately — but please with no court costs because I have not imposed any; the error was the Met’s, not mine.”
Forsyth was prosecuted behind closed doors through the single justice procedure and sentenced without a court hearing last month. Magistrate Robin Fawcett imposed a £60 fine, a £24 victim surcharge, and just £16 in costs — bringing the total to £100. Forsyth will also have three penalty points on his licence.
