§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers have been prosecuted for not having proper control of their vehicle while driving and holding a mobile phone in the Greater London area in each of the last three years. [158521]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeThe information requested is not available.
399WThere is no separate offence of driving a vehicle using a mobile telephone, and any prosecution is likely to be for driving without due care and attention, for which there were 9,900 prosecutions in the Metropolitan Police Area (including City of London) in 1999 with 11,000 in 1998 and 12,300 in 1997. Data for 2000 are not yet available.
It is also possible for such drivers to be prosecuted or issued with a fixed penalty for not being in proper control of a vehicle (Regulation 104 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986), but such cases cannot be separately identified in the statistics collected centrally.