Penalty for mobile use could double

Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has suggested the penalty for using a mobile phone while driving could be doubled from three points to six, backing up Met Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe’s similar call.

The increased penalties would also mean any driver convicted twice in three years would get banned from driving as a result of totting up points.

The transport secretary was reported by The Daily Mail to have said he was looking at increasing penalties following a briefing with journalists. The newspaper quoted him as saying: “We’ve got to change this. I want to alert people to what they are doing.

“The person who is using their phone doesn’t realise the damage or the danger that they could be in, so it ends up ruining different people’s lives.”

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