The veteran writer and former spy Frederick Forsyth has accused London’s Metropolitan Police of “hounding an old codger” over speeding ticket “rather than solving burglaries”.

The Evening Standard newspaper reports The Day of the Jackal author was caught by a speed camera on the A40 in October and says he paid a fine for driving seven miles per hour over the 30mph limit.

However, the report says the writer and journalist was called to court because police said a piece of paperwork didn’t include his driving licence number, although he says it did.

“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.”

He then points out that: “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.”

He says he missed the sign saying the limit had dropped from 40 to 30 mph.

He’s been ordered to pay 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.

(File picture – Yay Images)