Dr Vincent Leaper submitted fake AA letters, claiming his car had broken down
A doctor who tried to avoid parking fines by faking Automobile Association (AA) documents has been given a 12-month community order.
After receiving tickets in Southampton and Winchester, Vincent Leaper submitted bogus letters in which he claimed his car had broken down.
Southampton Magistrates' Court heard Leaper signed them in the name of an AA employee who had died in 2010.
He was given 180 hours' unpaid work and told to pay the £330 parking tickets.
In addition, he was also ordered to pay £3,272 in court costs.
Leaper, of Woodlands near Southampton, had admitted four counts of forgery, using a false instrument and two counts of fraud.
The court heard he was issued with seven parking tickets for his Jaguar and a hire car between 2009 and 2014.
'Sophisticated fraud'
Duncan Milne, prosecuting, said: "The letters sent with the AA reports effectively concocted a story of a vehicle breakdown.
"He put some imagination into it, saying passers-by helped push the car to a place of safety. It was a work of fantasy and fiction."
The letters, which Leaper had bought on the internet, featured the signature of an AA employee who had left the company and died in 2010, the court heard.
A Southampton City Council official became suspicious after Leaper attempted the scam in June 2014.
The court heard he later emailed the council, asking to be let off with a caution and offering to "keep the loophole to himself".
Sentencing, Recorder Richard Davison described it as "quite a sophisticated fraud".
"You inconvenienced the public, you put the city councils concerned to unnecessary time and trouble and you brought disgrace on yourself and your profession."
Leaper previously received a warning from the General Medical Council in 2013 after being cautioned by police in Luton over evading airport parking charges.
