Since 1^st March 2017 driving whilst using a mobile phone can have a more dramatic effect on your driving licence than ever before with the penalty being doubled to 6 penalty points in addition to a fine.

Fortunately for you mobile phone cases are one of specialities with an astonishing success rate over 85% in cases taken to trial over the past 12 months!

Driving whilst using a mobile phone is covered by Section 41D of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and Regulation 110(1)(a) of the Road Vehicles (Construction & Use) Regulations 1986.

Using Your Mobile Phone While Driving

The provisions are lengthy but generally state:-

• That it is an offence to drive when using a hand-held mobile phone or other hand-hand interactive communication device

Clearly the important issue is whether the telephone is being ‘used’ whilst driving. However, our extensive experience in dealing with mobile phone charges tells us that road traffic police officers often charge drivers with this offence simply because they have seen a mobile phone being held and unfortunately do not tend to entertain any protestations or suggestion that they have misunderstood or misinterpreted the law.

Although the legislation and regulations do not specifically define the word ‘use’ it is accepted by the courts that the Crown & Procurator Fiscal Service must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the telephone was held and used to communicate e.g making or receiving a call, text or multimedia message or accessing the internet or apps. It is important to note that the crown are not required to show call or text records in proving their case as evidence from police officers of your lips moving or your fingers pressing the screen whilst holding a mobile phone can be enough for use to be inferred.

On the face of it these cases can seem very straight forward but they are far from it. Against the evidence of two or more police officers it can be an uphill struggle unless you have the assistance of an expert road traffic lawyer. Our outstanding success rate in these cases is down to the way we deal with the specific circumstances of each case, our meticulous preparation and excellent cross examination skills.

We will obtain a court order to obtain both your incoming and outgoing court records, we will attend and fully assess the locus and the view afforded by the police officers as well as providing photographic or video footage to demonstrate to the court the unreliability of the crown evidence and ensuring you have the strongest possible defence.

If you have been charged with using a mobile phone then time is of the essence. It is important that you take immediate action as failure to act now could affect your prospects of success. For example, many network providers only retain call records for a certain length of time and the process of obtaining a court order to obtain full records can take some time.

So take the next step to protecting your driving licence immediately and let us take care of it, call the award winning specialist road traffic lawyer now, call 0141 465 3333 Now!