Booked for using mobile while stationery

Joe_Horner

Spicy_McHaggis wrote: »

Well if you're stood outside the car and the other is shuffling across I'd say you are no longer driving.

Sadly for what "you'd say" there's is lots of case law to say that you don't need to be in a car in order to be driving it, and also to say that someone moving from the passenger to the driver seat isn't driving, even if they accidentally operate a control in the process.

Spicy_McHaggis

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Sadly for what "you'd say" there's is lots of case law to say that you don't need to be in a car in order to be driving it, and also to say that someone moving from the passenger to the driver seat isn't driving, even if they accidentally operate a control in the process.

Case law similar to this circumstance?

Joe_Horner

Similar enough to apply until someone sets another precedent by appealing.

Spicy_McHaggis

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Similar enough to apply until someone sets another precedent by appealing.

You keep saying that.

Car_54

Spicy_McHaggis wrote: »

Well if you're stood outside the car and the other is shuffling across I'd say you are no longer driving.

Whether the person who was driving is still driving or not, he has committed the offence of leaving the vehicle unattended with the engine running.

Unless the person in the passenger seat claims to be the driver, in which case he is not in a position to control the vehicle, which is also an offence.

Joe_Horner

Yes and, if you notice, the cases I referenced for FormulaDriven also addressed the issue that you kept banging on about. But he asked nicer.

What it comes down to is, I don't make statements I can't back up but feel no need whatsoever to back them up when people make silly unsupported challenges for no good reason

FormulaDriven

Joe - thanks for answering my questions.

I suppose this comes back to where this thread started: that the courts have established through various cases a definition of driver & driving that might depart from everyday (might even say common sense) view.

I agree with earlier posters who suggested that although the person making a call at the side of the road while the engine was running may well have been committing an offence, common sense from a police officer should have been to give a friendly warning rather than get into issuing a penalty.

Spicy_McHaggis

Car_54 wrote: »

Whether the person who was driving is still driving or not, he has committed the offence of leaving the vehicle unattended with the engine running.

Unless the person in the passenger seat claims to be the driver, in which case he is not in a position to control the vehicle, which is also an offence.

I did consider that earlier, but have you considered as they are changing drivers then the vehicle is attended by a person licenced to drive it?

Spicy_McHaggis

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Yes and, if you notice, the cases I referenced for FormulaDriven also addressed the issue that you kept banging on about. But he asked nicer.

What it comes down to is, I don't make statements I can't back up but feel no need whatsoever to back them up when people make silly unsupported challenges for no good reason

Well done, you posted a link I posted three days ago.

You really are at the cutting edge of the legal profession.

Joe_Horner

Yes, although case law can always be modified (though rarely completely changed) by subsequent cases so someone appealing a "using mobile" charge might be successful in getting the position altered regarding that particular offence. Personally, I wouldn't be prepared to bet my savings on it because the current situation works perfectly well and sensibly if it's policed intelligently.

Which leads on to the second matter of whether a ticket was appropriate for the OP. On what we know it odes seem heavy handed, and even counter-productive, but we have no impartial idea of what actually went on.

Was the officer happy to give "advice" but received an earful of "you can't ticket me for that / why aren't you catching burglars" rather than a "sorry, Officer"? The police are only human and the natural response to that in the end would be "Oh yes I can and I think I will!"