- The number of Drivers caught using a handheld phone jumped 93 per cent between 2021 and 2022 — the year the law changed.
- Under the 2022 rules, simply touching your phone while stationary in a traffic jam can mean a £200 penalty and six points.
- And the year after that, the numbers did something even more remarkable.
Picture the scene, because it happens on every motorway in Britain every single day.
Traffic at a dead stop. Handbrake on. You reach over and skip to the next song.
Since March 2022, that small movement has been a criminal offence carrying a £200 fixed penalty and six points — and the enforcement figures show exactly how hard the change bit. The number of Drivers caught using a handheld phone rose 93 per cent between 2021 and 2022.
Not because Drivers suddenly changed their habits, but because the law changed around them.
The Loophole That Closed in March 2022
Under the old law, an offence required the phone to be used for “interactive communication” — calls, texts, data. Clever lawyers won cases on exactly that wording, most famously where a Driver filming with his phone was found not to be communicating with anyone.
So in March 2022 the Government rewrote the rules to cover virtually any handheld use: taking photos or videos, scrolling a playlist, browsing the internet, even checking a notification.
Crucially, “while driving” includes sitting stationary in traffic with the engine running. The queue isn’t moving, your handbrake is on, and the offence is complete the moment the phone is in your hand.
The main exceptions are a contactless payment at a drive-through and a genuine 999 emergency. Skipping a song in a jam is neither.
It Happened to Us
This isn’t theoretical for DriveProtect™. Our founder was pulled over for exactly this — changing a music track while completely stationary in traffic.
No collision, no danger, no movement. Just a hand on a phone in a queue, and a roadside conversation with officers about whether this was really what the law was written for. On that occasion it went no further, but thousands of Drivers each year aren’t so fortunate — and every one of them collects the same six points as somebody texting at 70mph.
That’s the part worth sitting with: the law makes no distinction between the two.
Don’t miss a story: join the free DriveProtect newsletter — straight-talking updates for British Motorists.
Then the Numbers Nearly Doubled Again
If 2022 was the warning shot, 2023 was the follow-through.
Ministry of Justice figures for England and Wales show 7,967 Drivers taken to Court for handheld phone use in 2022 — and 15,299 in 2023, with convictions climbing from 6,990 to 13,332, a seven-year high.
Roadside cameras, unmarked HGV cabs with an elevated view into your car, targeted enforcement weeks, and a rising tide of dashcam submissions from other road users are all feeding the machine.
The direction of travel could not be clearer, and it’s pointing at your licence.
Why Six Points Is Bigger Than It Sounds
Six points is half way to a totting-up ban in a single stroke. Get caught twice and you’re at 12 — disqualification territory — without ever having sped, drunk, or crashed.
And for anyone who passed their test within the last two years, six points doesn’t mean a ban. It means the licence is revoked entirely, back to a provisional, theory test and all.
If a phone allegation has landed on your doormat, the details matter enormously: what the officer actually saw, what the phone was genuinely being used for, whether the paperwork stacks up. DriveProtect Members get direct access to a specialist Speeding Solicitor who reviews the case and advises them exactly what to respond, for a fraction of the normal cost of legal help.
The war on the British Motorist, straight to your inbox
Join the free newsletter — straight-talking updates on speed cameras, enforcement, and your rights as a Driver.
Got a NIP or points on your licence right now? See how DriveProtect Membership works — a specialist Speeding Solicitor in your corner from £25/month.
