The Crown Prosecution Service dropped a motoring prosecution against Sir Ranulph Fiennes after he employed the lawyer known as Mr Loophole, it has emerged.

The explorer was summoned to appear before magistrates in Market Drayton, Shropshire, after allegedly failing to provide information as to who was at the wheel of a Land Rover snapped by a speed camera on March 30 last year.

The vehicle, owned by Sir Ranulph, was travelling on the A41 Whitchurch Bypass towards Edgeley in Shropshire.

Defence barrister Nick Freeman, nicknamed Mr Loophole, confirmed he had represented the explorer and had entered a not guilty plea on his behalf at a court hearing on November 5 last year.

He said a series of “technical failures” by prosecutors had led to the case, listed for trial yesterday, being dropped.”Proceedings were fatally flawed,” Mr Freeman said, describing how initial correspondence sent out to Sir Ranulph was mistakenly addressed to Mr Ran Flenns.

He added: “The first two notices they sent out were defective because they failed to correctly identify the correct person.

“The initial paperwork was addressed to Mr Ran Flenns, who does not exist. A reminder was sent to the same person.”

A CPS spokesman said the case had been discontinued on evidential grounds.

He said: “Sir Ranulph Fiennes was summoned to appear before Market Drayton Magistrates Court after failing to give information regarding a driver’s identity.

“As he produced this information as soon as reasonably possible we decided to discontinue the proceedings on November 25, 2008 as there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.”

The maximum penalty for failure to furnish is a six-point licence endorsement or a discretionary disqualification.

Mr Freeman has been dubbed Mr Loophole while defending high profile people who have been cleared of driving offences after he has revealed loopholes.

Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson was cleared of driving on the hard shoulder when Mr Freeman representing him argued that he had been rushing to the toilet.

In 1999, David Beckham avoided a speeding ban when his lawyer put forward special reasons that he was being pursued by the paparazzi. And in September 2007 Freeman represented Jeremy Clarkson who was acquitted of a motoring offence.