Warning: ‘Cell’ fines are real

HEFTY fines for driving while using a mobile phone are real as a 26-year-old Toowoomba woman has found out.

Maria Kressa Aquino was seen by a police patrol to be driving on Chalk Drive with her mobile phone in her hand about 11.09pm, June 1, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard on Wednesday.

The on-the-spot ticket for such offending was $1000 but when that went unpaid she was sent a summons which added $108.60 to the cost, police prosecutor Sergeant Natalie Bugden told the court.

Aquino, who represented herself, pleaded guilty to a charge of “use of mobile phones”.

She told the court she was a student who also worked as a kitchen hand in Toowoomba.

Magistrate Kay Ryan told Aquino that her plea of guilty had saved the court time and the expense of a court hearing.

However, the law was there for a reason.

“You’ve got to be very careful with the phone,” she said.

Ms Ryan told Aquino that she could increase the fine under the circumstances but that she would keep the penalty to the ticketable amount.

Ms Ryan fined Aquino $1000, which was referred to the State Penalties Enforcement Registry (SPER), and ordered she pay the cost of the court filing fee of $108.60.

Ms Ryan ordered the conviction not be recorded.