He Texted Next to a Police Car and Drove Off With a Telling-Off. Today It Would Cost Him Six Points

• Since 25 March 2022, holding your phone at the wheel for any reason — even stationary in a traffic jam — carries six penalty points and a £200 fine.
• New Drivers within two years of passing their test lose their licence outright for a single offence.
• And the excuse that once talked a Driver out of trouble at the roadside is now legally worthless.

Back in 2011, on the day of the royal wedding, a friend of ours was going nowhere in London traffic.

Bored senseless, he did what millions of Drivers did back then without a second thought: he pulled out his phone and started texting a mate his running commentary on the big day.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he clocked a police car sliding up alongside him in the next queue — and an officer staring straight at him.

Thinking fast, he switched the screen to a sat-nav app, wound down the window, and played the lost tourist: terribly sorry, officer, just typing in a destination.

The officer wasn’t fooled for a second. It doesn’t matter what you were doing, he said — it’s against the law to use a device like that while you’re driving. Yes, even sitting still in a jam. He spelled out the fine and the points he could hand down, accepted the apology, and moved on.

Our friend drove away with nothing but a racing heartbeat. In 2011, with the penalty at three points, that was a lucky escape.

Try the same thing today and the arithmetic is very different: six points and a £200 fixed penalty — and if you passed your test within the last two years, your licence is gone entirely.

The Law That Closed Every Loophole

For years, the phone law had a gap in it. The offence was built around “interactive communication” — calls, texts, the internet — which meant Drivers caught filming, scrolling a playlist, or checking an offline app could argue they weren’t technically communicating with anyone.

On 25 March 2022, that gap was welded shut.

Since that date, simply holding and using any device capable of sending or receiving data is the offence — phone, sat-nav, tablet, the lot. What’s on the screen is irrelevant. Flight mode is irrelevant. Taking a photo, skipping a song, glancing at a map: all of it counts.

And here’s the part that catches Drivers out every single day: the law applies when you’re stopped at traffic lights, queuing in traffic, or sitting with a start-stop engine cut out. Unless you are safely parked, you are still driving in the eyes of the law.

Our friend’s traffic jam? Today it’s exactly the same offence as texting at 70 on the motorway.

Six Points Is Only Where It Starts

The fixed penalty — £200 and six points — is the gentle version.

Officers can add a further three points if they judge you didn’t have a full view of the road or proper control of the vehicle while the phone was in your hand. Take the case to Court and lose, and the fine can rise to £1,000, with a discretionary ban on the table.

For a new Driver, there is no second chance at all. Six points inside the first two years means the licence is revoked and it’s back to square one: theory test, practical test, the lot.

And two of these “offences” in three years puts an experienced Driver on twelve points — staring down a six-month totting-up ban.

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What Actually Helps at the Roadside

There are two honest lessons in our friend’s story, and neither of them is “have a cover story ready” — that door is bolted shut now anyway, because holding the device is the offence no matter what you claim was on the screen.

The first lesson is that manner matters. Officers have discretion, and a Driver who stays calm and courteous gives them room to use it. Our friend’s apology, not his excuse, is what sent that officer on his way.

The second is just as important: being polite is not the same as confessing. You can be entirely civil without admitting an offence at the roadside — and if a prosecution does follow, what you said in those first flustered minutes can matter a great deal.

If the ticket comes anyway, that’s not the end of the road. The prosecution still has to get its case right — and knowing exactly what to say in response is where specialist advice earns its keep. DriveProtect™ Members get direct access to a specialist Speeding Solicitor who reviews their case and advises them exactly what to respond, for a fraction of the normal cost of legal help.

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.