THE case of a crime boss who escaped a ticket after claiming he "couldn't remember" whether he was driving has been described as the police equivalent of insider dealing.

Lord McKenzie, former head of the Police Superintendents' Association, said the case "sounds like the police equivalent of insider dealing".

The defence could be justified if it was a shared, company car, he said. Lord McKenzie said that it seemed that Detective Superintendent Adrian Roberts of Cleveland Police had done was use that defence and by some miraculous means managed to use it successfully.

Lord McKenzie said he was "absolutely staggered, because clearly there is a moral duty here for the police to obey the rules and obey the law.

"This is calculated, I think, to bring the police into disrepute,'' he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme."

Mr Roberts received the ticket through the post after his white Citroen AX was filmed exceeding the 30mph limit in Yarm Road, Stockton, on April 8.

The stretch of road has become notorious locally for its anti-speeding cameras.

Within a month of his car being filmed speeding, a fixed penalty ticket was sent to the home of Det Supt Roberts, 36, the head of the CID at Middlesbrough police station and himself a former head of the force traffic unit, giving him the option of accepting a £60 fine plus three penalty points or pleading not guilty to the charge.

Instead he wrote to his colleague in Cleveland Police, Superintendent Graham Cummings claiming he "couldn't remember" if he had been driving the car on the Sunday morning in question.

Supt Cummings then met Det Supt Roberts and after deciding the photograph did not clearly identify his fellow officer as the driver, the ticket was written off.

Sources claim there appear to have been no inquiries made as to how many other people were insured to drive Mr Roberts' private car - something which would be normal practice.

Some members of the Cleveland force were so angry at the outcome they complained to head of traffic Chief Superintendent Jeff Evans.

Chief Supt Evans then raised the matter with Assistant Chief Constable Della Canning, who is examining the affair.

A senior officer, who did not wish to be named, said: "Many members of the public feel aggrieved at the hard line the force takes with speeders, but this is justified by the reduction in accidents.

"But for a fairly senior officer to be treated in this way smacks of one rule for the police and one for the public."

Last night, both Det Supt Roberts and ACC Canning refused to discuss the matter, but a force spokesman confirmed it would be reviewed.

He said: "The officer corresponded in his capacity as a private citizen, as many motorists do, with no reference being made to his status as a police officer."