The fraudster who masterminded Britain’s biggest-ever speeding ticket scam has been caged for seven years.

Colin Lowndes, 41, of Clough End Road, Hattersley, helped 735 motorists across the country avoid points for speeding offences and jumping red lights.

While that scheme grossed an estimated £100,000, Lowndes used stolen credit card details he had bought over the web to enjoy a millionaire’s lifestyle.

He enjoyed sunshine holidays every couple of weeks with family and friends - and cruised around in a rented Porsche.

The frauds continued even after Lowndes was arrested in connection with the speeding ticket business in May 2010.

In August of that year alone, while on bail, the career crook booked trips to Lanzarote, Universal Studios in Florida, and Paphos.

He also enjoyed domestic jaunts to Chester Zoo and Alton Towers.

Here is an audio clip of Colin Lowndes calling a holiday company after booking using a fraudulent credit card


Even after he was charged and made his first appearance at the magistrates last spring, he jetted off to Albufeira and Benidorm.

Judge Roger Thomas QC, sentencing Lowndes at Manchester Crown Court, said 'simple greed' lay behind the crimes.

Locked up in January '12

Over a three-year period, Lowndes invented scores of fictional motorists so that the real culprits of traffic offences could avoid detection.

Motorists – said to include a large number of ‘otherwise decent’ people – would pass him Notices of Intended Prosecution (NIPs) after learning about his ‘service’ through word of mouth.

For fees of up to £400, Lowndes would send the form back with a false name, using 11 addresses linked to him or a family member.

The fictional driver would often be prosecuted in their absence, with bailiffs sent out to chase them, while the paying motorist escaped scot-free.

But, with so many speeding tickets being sent to the same addresses, police became suspicious and raided a number of properties in Hyde.

NIPs were found in various locations, including the branches of a tree in a property adjoining Lowndes' safehouse, in a safe, in kitchen drawers, in a bin bag, in a cupboard, propped on coat-hooks and in mailboxes.

A postman even turned up with a bundle of NIPs while officers were raiding a house at Newton Street, Hyde.

A notebook was found under a flowerbed which meticulously recorded customers and their alter-egos for Lowndes’ records.

He was also linked to the scheme by DNA, having licked the envelopes.

Lowndes admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and 30 fraud charges.

His 41-year-old brother-in-law, Lee Foster, of Backbower Lane, Hyde, denied conspiring to pervert the course of justice but was found guilty at trial.

He had provided a ‘post-box’ for Lowndes, receiving 526 of the NIPs.

He was jailed for 18 months.

Locked up in January '12