This information is not collected centrally. Use of resources is an operational matter for individual chief officers of police. It became a specific offence to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving in December 2003.
This information is not collected centrally. Information on court proceedings for the offence of using a hand-held mobile phone while driving and fixed penalties issued for the offence are contained in Motoring Offences and Breath Test Statistics, England and Wales, published annually, and in its supplementary tables. The information covers the period from December 2003, when this conduct became a specific offence.
The latest available information from the Court Proceedings Database held by the Ministry of Justice is for 2006 and is provided in the table. As the majority of ‘use of hand held mobile phone while driving’ offences are dealt with by the issue of a fixed penalty notice these are also included.
2007 data should be available later this year.
Number of offences Fixed penalty notices issued Total court proceedings3 Total dealt with England and Wales 164,910 2,682 167,592 1 Paid, i.e. no further action. 2 Offences under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, Regulations 110 (1), 110 (2) and 110(3). 3 Includes cases where fixed penalty notices were originally issued but not paid and subsequently referred to court. Notes: 1. It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete. 2. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.