Tugendhat given six-month driving ban over mobile use

TOM TUGENDHAT should be setting a good example, a judge said yesterday as he banned the security minister from driving.

The 49-year-old was ordered not to get behind the wheel for six months after he was caught driving with his mobile phone in his hand in Wandsworth, south-west London, on April 14.

The Conservative MP for Tonbridge and Malling was stopped by police in his Skoda 4x4 after an officer saw him holding the device in his left hand for about 20 seconds.

Geraldine Dickinson, prosecuting, told Westminster magistrates’ court the officer confirmed that Tugendhat had not been using the phone to call the emergency services. “It was confirmed that they were using maps,” she said.

Paul Morris, defending, said his client accepted he would receive a driving ban and did not argue that it would cause him “exceptional hardship”.

Fining Tugendhat £1,000, Judge Jack Mcgarva told him: “Using a mobile phone in any way is a distraction. Without any doubt it impairs people’s ability to drive.

“I would expect you to set a good example for the rest of us.”

Tugendhat, who lives in Clapham, was given six penalty points for the offence, added to the six he had for two previous driving offences – leading to him being banned for six months. He was also ordered to pay a surcharge of £100 and costs of £110.

Previously, he had submitted a written guilty plea to Bromley magistrates in which he told the court that after the incident he attended an advanced driving course and was assessed as low risk.

However, the offence was sent for prosecution because he had points on his licence.