Using mobile phone when stopped/parked

[Escort3500]

Quite an interesting case on the local news programme tonight. A motorist has just been fined £100 and hit with 3 points for using her phone while driving. On the face of it, sounds right.

According to the news item she was stopped at the side of the road, handbrake on but engine running. That (apparently) is an offence; she should have switched the engine off and removed the key from the ignition the reporter said. I'm sure this isn't the first such conviction in the country in these circumstances, but it seems a bit harsh to me. The police have discretion apparently, but clearly didn't consider it appropriate to exercise it on this occasion. I always stop to use the phone, but don't always cut the engine off - obviously will in future though.

So, was she fairly treated; what's the PH view?

[Escort3500]

paintman said:

Does seem rather harsh on the face of it, but I do wonder if she took the 'Haven't you got anything better to do' etc tack.
IME some people will accept words of advice & others just want to argue the toss. Guess who gets a ticket.
The other possibility could be was there a clampdown on mobile phone usage in the area at the time?

I don't know of course, but from the way she interviewed on the news clip I didn't get the impression she was Mrs Angry. She's a care worker and was parked/stopped in what looked like a fairly quiet side street to call her next client when the WPC came along and knicked her. The woman was quite philosophical and said she wasn't going to appeal the ticket, and just wanted to warn others about the way the law is applied. Usual "it is the law" statement form the force when asked to comment.

On the face of it she does seem to have been treated rather harshly; surely a quiet word about the legal implications of what she was doing would have been appropriate.

[Escort3500]

The news item was updated on tonight's programme with the offender saying she'd now been offered a SAC instead, and the Chief Constable smiling and advising people to buy their other half a Bluetooth kit for Christmas (and maintaining the woman had committed an offence and had been dealt with reasonably). She was then filmed in her car parked in a quiet back street to illustrate, I assume, where the offence had occurred. Seems to me a very heavy-handed approach for the BiB on this occasion.