Mobile phone ban from December 1st 2003

Latest information January 2004

Employers now face fines of up to £1,000 for allowing workers to use hand-held mobile phones while driving, under changes to road traffic laws. The Department for Transport announced a complete ban on the use of hand-held mobile phones and similar devices while driving.

Under the ban, which has taken the form of an amendment to the road vehicles (construction and use) regulations 1986, drivers could be prosecuted for using a hand-held mobile phone while driving, and employers could be prosecuted if they cause or permit their staff to do so. However, the DfT makes it clear that employers would not be liable to prosecution solely because they supplied a hand-held phone to a member of staff or because they telephoned an employee who happened to be driving at the time.

The new regulation will apply to all motor vehicles including motorbikes being driven on a public highway, and prohibits the use of any electronic communication device that is held in the driver's hand during any part of its operation. For example hand-held phones used with an earphone and microphone will be covered by the ban because they still require the user to hold the phone in order to press buttons or to read a message on the phone's screen. In addition, the ban will cover all activities that involve holding a mobile phone including sending text messages and accessing the Internet.

However, the DfT says that pushing buttons on a phone while it is in a fixed cradle inside the vehicle or operating it via buttons on the steering wheel or handlebars would not be an offence. It adds that a hand-held phone does not have to be switched off when driving and can be used to receive data so long as the driver is not holding the phone.

In addition, there are a number of exemptions to the ban. These include:

Two-way radio microphones for example those
used by taxi driver and hauliers
Microphones used by coach and bus drivers to
make emergency announcements to passengers
via an in-vehicle loudspeaker system
Emergency '999' calls made on a hand-held
phone if it would be unsafe to stop the vehicle.
In addition the use of hands-free phones which use fixed speakers and are either wired into the vehicle or plugged into a unit, such as a cradle, are not prohibited. Although the DfT says that using a hands-free phone increases the risk of having a road accident it concluded that banning the use of hands-free phones while driving is unenforcable.

Drivers who use hand-held phones while driving or employers who require or permit their workers to do so, will be subject to penalties ranging from a fixed penalty notice of £30 to a fine of up to £1,000 or £2,500 for drivers of goods vehicles or vehicles that carry eight or more passengers. The government also plans to make using a hand-held mobile phone while driving an endorsable offence.