Motorists caught using their mobile phone while at the wheel could receive stricter punishment than ever before following calls from a leading police figure.
Following suggestions from Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe earlier this year, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said he will look at doubling the current penalties, meaning culprits caught twice in three years could be banned from getting behind the wheel completely.
Sir Bernard had called for those caught using a device whilst driving to get six penalty points on their licence instead of the current three as part of plans aimed at cutting road deaths. Under these rules, a newly-qualified driver could be banned after just one offence, as their initial threshold for a ban is just six points.
Speaking at a Westminster lunch, McLoughlin said the idea was an "interesting suggestion" that he was considering in an effort to end the "appalling" number of people killed and seriously injured in accidents where a phone was being used.
Any changes in the law are unlikely to happen until after the next election, however.
Quoting police figures from 2011, McLoughlin highlighted that one road death every fortnight is directly related to mobile phone use, a statistic he described as "absolutely appalling".
"The person who is using their phone doesn’t realise the damage or the danger," he added, "We’ve got to change this. We’ve got to get that message across."
Sir Bernard’s call for stronger penalties came last year, and would also include a raise in fines for such offences, rising to £150 from the current rate of £100.
"If I was able tomorrow, I would say you get six points for driving while using a phone," he said at the time. "The problem at the moment is we are dishing out lots of tickets, somebody gets three points and they have got another three chances."
It has been illegal since December 2003 to use a mobile phone held in the hand while driving.
