On day one of tougher penalties for using a phone at the wheel… the teenager who is facing a ban
A TEENAGE motorist is set to become one of the first to lose his licence under strict new laws on using mobile phones while driving.
The 19-year-old – who said his parents would ‘kill him’ – was among a string of drivers caught yesterday in a crackdown after police began enforcing the new rules from midnight.
They were all given six penalty points on their licences and a £200 fine – double the previous three points and £100.
For motorists with less than two years’ experience, getting six points can now result in instant disqualification.
The 19-year- old’s black Ford Focus was pulled over by Thames Valley Police after he was spotted using his phone as a GPS navigation device.
The teenager, who declined to give his name, said: ‘I just feel p***ed off to be honest. All I was doing was trying to find a garage to change my tyre.’
However, he added that he could not disagree with the penalty.
Another young driver who passed her test a year ago also faces losing her licence after she was caught on her phone in a BMW in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.
More experienced motorists can lose their licence if they receive 12 points in three years.
Drivers in Kent, Manchester and Cambridgeshire were among those photographed being stopped by police.
Chief Constable Suzette Davenport, of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said: ‘We need people to understand this is not a minor offence they can get away with.’
Thames Valley Police set up an operation near the A34 in Berkshire where lorry driver Tomasz Kroker caused the deaths of four people in a crash while using his phone last year. He was jailed for ten years. Spotters radioed information to uniformed officers waiting ahead in a side road who then pulled over offenders.
The driver of a Red Suzuki said: ‘It was my stupid fault. I think the new rules are fair – it is going to stop people.’
But the driver of a white Toyota thought six points was too much. She said: ‘I never normally use my phone while driving – I was just in slow traffic. I think the points are not fair but the fine is fair.’
Paul Dancer, a company director who was stopped while driving a VW pick-up truck, said: ‘I have a hands-free but it was in my gear stick hand by my gear stick.
‘ I have just been told that because it wasn’t in a cradle I have now got six points.’ PC Dave Renfrew said one motorist had given their phone to their child to hide when caught.
He added: ‘The spotter saw him, and he denied it. It turned out he had given it to his child.’
Inspector Gavin Biggs said he had no sympathy for drivers caught under the new rules.
‘It’s been a long time coming,’ he added. ‘I’m really pleased about it. People know it’s an offence, yet they continue to do it.
‘Our enforcement shows we have a strong stance against it.’ The doubling of penalties and fines for offenders was a victory for the Daily Mail’s End The Mobile Madness campaign.
It was launched last year after a string of fatal accidents involving motorists using their mobiles.
In a bizarre incident during yesterday’s crackdown, Kent Police pulled over a van swerving across the M20 and found a pet parrot ‘walking along the top of the steering wheel with the driver appearing to talk to it’. The force said: ‘The driver is now subject to a Traffic Offence Report.’