Points for using phone

Herzlos

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82031597#Comment_82031597

I dread to think how many times police are told that someone is only holding their phone because it fell. At least 50% of the time?

I can appreciate sometimes there will be a safety issue in that you don't want it getting behind a pedal, but as an excuse it's far from novel.

textbook

If I would've said on webcam I wasn't talking on it, but can't remember if I said I was using it or i was holding it. Would they have videoed me holding it? or is it two of them as witnesses for each other saying ' he was holding it up looking at it for awhile or a short time' would the judge go with two police officers? If they don't believe the officers sets a bad precedent. It was on a roundabout coming onto dual carriage way

paul_c123

If you can't remember if you were using it, but the 2x police officers saw you using it and made a note of it at the time (so they can accurately recall the facts in court), the judge is going to go with them.

MattMattMattUK

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82033328#Comment_82033328

Just accept it, take it on the chin and move on. There is no point wasting time, asking endless questions and trying to weasel out of it. Either choose to go to court and in all likelihood face a harsher penalty, or take the one on offer now.

Car_54

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82033328#Comment_82033328

The judge (or, more likely, three magistrates) would simply have to decide which account is more credible. The question of a precedent does not arise: there is nothing unusual in courts disbelieving police officers. In any event, decisions in magistrates courts do not establish precedents for other courts.

LightFlare

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82033328#Comment_82033328

it doesn’t matter what you were doing with it - the fact is that it was in your hand

QrizB

> Either choose to go to court and in all likelihood face a harsher penalty, or take the one on offer now.

It's been six weeks since the first post on this thread; is there a time limit on accepting a fixed penalty?

TooManyPoints

"…is there a time limit on accepting a fixed penalty?"

Twenty-eight days.

It would not surprise me if the offer was now withdrawn If it has been, the OP can expect to receive a "Single Justice Procedure Notice" any time between now and a couple of weeks after the six month time limit for prosecutions to begin has passed.

it doesn’t matter what you were doing with it - the fact is that it was in your hand

It needs to be emphasised that the law says nothing about holding it. It only mentions "using" it. Proof that the driver was holding it does not (by itself) make out the offence. Similarly, proof that he was not holding it does not ensure an acquittal.

Of course, proof that it was being held adds considerable strength to any accusation that it was being used.

Grumpy_chap

I think the comments about "holding" the phone and not "using the phone" are a red herring - pirouetting on the head of a pin.

If the OP can argue that technicality as not contravening the specific legislation around using handheld mobile phones, I can imagine the case would simply return as a charge of not be fully in control, or without due care and attention. Clearly, if the OP was holding the phone, then the OP does not have both hands available to control the vehicle plus the OP is, in part at least, not fully concentrating on driving because part of the concentration capacity is attending to holding the phone to do whatever with the phone. The OP can never know when an emergency situation will arise requiring full concentration and every available resource to operate the car's controls.

Car_54

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82033915#Comment_82033915

If the OP did defend the charge, wouldn't it be too late to bring alternative charges? Assuming of course that the case didn't come to court until six months had elapsed, which seems to be almost always the case.

In any event, no NIP had been issued for such charge(s).