Overview

• The AA’s website highlights that picking up a hand-held mobile while driving now carries a six-point penalty, meaning novices exceed their two-year limit with one breach.
• The 2021 legislation closed previous loopholes around taking photos or videos on phones, aligning all handheld mobile offences with a £200 fine and a six-point sanction.
• Police forces in regions such as the West Midlands and West Yorkshire have intensified roadside checks and warned that even brief taps on devices at lights or in queues can attract penalties.
• Drivers who lose their licence under the novice rule must revert to learner status, apply for a provisional licence and pass both theory and practical tests again.
• Highway Code rule 239 advises switching off the engine and parking before using a phone, while hands-free calls and contactless drive-through payments remain permitted.