£11,000 bill for couple who invented a Bulgarian to avoid speeding fine
By Nigel Bunyan
(Filed: 15/10/2005)

A chartered surveyor and his wife concocted an elaborate plan, complete with a fictitious Bulgarian motorist, in order to avoid paying two £60 speeding fines, a court heard yesterday.



Cathryn Bromley, 42, even flew to the former Soviet bloc country so that her alter ego, Konstantin Koscov, could send a postcard to her husband, Stuart.

The couple were caught out when a police officer became suspicious and managed to prove, courtesy of the British embassy in Sofia, that Mr Koscov existed only in their imagination.

The Bromleys decided on the scam after their blue Mercedes was twice caught speeding by a camera in Hyde, Greater Manchester, last January. Instead of paying the two £60 fines and accepting six points on his licence, Mr Bromley, 43, claimed that neither he nor his wife had been driving.

The guilty party, he maintained, was Mr Koscov, a former employee, who had since returned to his native Bulgaria.

Police believe that the Bromleys were convinced the matter would go away. However, they had not reckoned on the tenacity of Pc Mark Beales. When he began to investigate in more detail the couple decided that they needed more ''evidence''.

Mrs Bromley, who is also a surveyor, bought a ticket for a 1,400-mile return flight to Sofia where she wrote and posted Mr Koscov's postcard before catching the next flight back. She was at home in Broadbottom, Glossop, Derbys, when the postcard, featuring scenes from Bulgaria, landed on the doormat. It read: "Many thanks for the opportunity to work in your office. I enjoyed the experience and would gladly return the favour, unfortunately my car is nowhere as good as yours but it will get you about! 'Many thanks again and look forward to my next trip. Regards Konstantin Koscov."

Unfortunately for the Bromleys, they were a little too keen to present this new, seemingly incontrovertible piece of ''evidence'' to Pc Beales.

''We became suspicious because they were being too helpful in providing this postcard to corroborate their story,'' he said outside court. He also thought that Mr Koscov's vocabulary did not quite ring true and made the inquiries that would prove that the couple were lying.

Once the Bromleys knew they had been rumbled they confessed. Yesterday at Manchester Crown Court they were fined a total of £9,200 and ordered to pay £1,900 costs after admitting two counts of perverting the course of justice.

Passing sentence, Judge Bernard Lever said: "The best place to hit people like these is in their pockets. Had they not pleaded guilty, I would have almost certainly sent them to prison."

As a result of his court appearance Stuart Bromley is being investigated by his professional body, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. An RICS spokesman said he faced possible expulsion and a fine of up to £5,000.

This is not a go at the Police - more the government who calls the shots and the CPS!

What's your point?

Bear in mind the SOLE duty of police is to maintain order and work for the government. They are under no obligation to serve or protect any individual regardless of everyone thinking that

Alcazar, all I see is a large amount of tabloid-style 'spin' put on the facts of a case of perverting the course of justice in order to make them fit an anti-speed-enforcement position.

Before you start questioning other peoples intellect, perhaps you should ensure your own judgement is not clouded by assumptions which are simply convenient for your own point of view.

Gary.