12:54pm Saturday 3rd November 2007
By Telegraph newsdesk
THE East Lancashire MP behind the ban on handheld mobile phones while driving has spoken out after a colleague was fined for the offence.
Home Office minister Liam Bryne has been fined £100 with £35 costs and got three points on his licence after using his phone while at the wheel.
Mr Bryne took his case to court after saying that he was taking an important call on a deportation matter at the time of the offence on 6 July this year.
In a letter to the court, he expressed remorse for the offence, and told magistrates that he accepted there was no excuse and that he should have pulled over to take the call.
Darwen and Rossendale MP Janet Anderson launched the Private Members' Bill in the House of Commons which brought the law in.
She said her colleague should have turned his mobile phone off before he got behind the wheel.
Mrs Anderson said: "I am pleased that Liam apologised for his mistake. People need to know that using a hand held mobile phone while driving is dangerous.
"But it does show - in advance of Road Safety Week next week - that the police are now taking this issue seriously. In the past that appears not to have been the case.
"The fact that they are now stopping and prosecuting individual drivers - including Liam - who use hand held mobiles while driving, is welcome. I am sad for my former ministerial colleague but it does send out a message to other drivers."
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