Mobile phones

In a bid to ease pressure on resources, the police are no longer able to assist with general lost and found property. Most forces in England and Wales can now only accept certain items, including:

• Items which contain personal data (mobile phones, tablets, laptops etc)
• Illicit items (weapons, ammunition, drugs)
• Significant amounts of cash
• Items of high value

If this facility is available, the procedure may vary from force to force however it is likely that you will need to prove ownership of the mobile phone. In some forces you may be able to report it over the telephone whilst in others you need to report in person to your local police station with a copy of the contract or box for your phone. The police need a record of the IMEI number for your mobile phone that is so it can be recognised as your phone if it is handed in or recovered.

The IMEI/serial number on your phone is a number that is unique to your mobile phone. To find out what your IMEI number is type *#06# into your phone.

We would recommend that you contact your network provider to inform them the device is lost so they can stop anyone else using it.

Contact details for the mail mobile phone network providers can be found in relation information.

Please note from 1st March 2017 the penalty for using a mobile phone whilst driving will increase to 6 penalty points and a £200 fine. Anyone who is caught a second time could potentially face a £1000 fine and six-month ban from driving. The new penalties apply in England, Wales and Scotland.

If the mobile phone can be operated without it being held, then hands free kits are permitted. The touching of buttons on the phone is allowed, as long as the phone is not held whilst being operated.

If your mobile phone is blue tooth compatible then you can buy a blue tooth head kit. If your phone is not blue tooth compatible then the best option is probably a speaker phone kit.

However, there are still risks to using a mobile phone whilst driving as they are a distraction. If you are involved in an incident, even if you are using your mobile phone legally, you could still face prosecution for failing to have proper control of your vehicle.

You can also be prosecuted for careless or dangerous driving, which carry higher penalties. If you kill someone in an accident caused by phoning or texting etc. you can expect a lengthy prison sentence.

The use of the mobile phone to call the emergency services on 999 is permitted under the regulations, if you are acting in response to a real emergency and it is not safe or practical for you to stop to make the call.

Please note from 1st March 2017 the penalty for using a mobile phone whilst driving will increase to 6 penalty points and a £200 fine. Anyone who is caught a second time could potentially face a £1000 fine and six-month ban from driving. The new penalties apply in England, Wales and Scotland.

The use of a mobile phone without a hands free kit is not allowed whilst driving. The police do not advocate driving whilst using a mobile phone at all as they are distracting.

Please note from 1st March 2017 the penalty for using a mobile phone whilst driving will increase to 6 penalty points and a £200 fine. Anyone who is caught a second time could potentially face a £1000 fine and six-month ban from driving. The new penalties apply in England, Wales and Scotland.

Driving includes times when for whatever reasons you are held up during the journey, for example, traffic jams and traffic lights.

Using a hand held mobile phone whilst cycling is not illegal per se. However, you could commit an offence of careless cycling. It is also not advisable for the obvious safety reasons.

For those people using electrically assisted pedal cycles it depends on the cycle itself as to whether it is illegal or not. A lot of new vehicles are being marketed as electrically assisted pedal cycles but are, in fact, classed as motor vehicles so using a hand held mobile phone whilst riding one of these would be illegal.

It is an offence to use a hand held mobile phone or an "interactive communications device", but there is an exemption for a two way radio which is designed or adapted -

• for the purpose of transmitting and receiving spoken messages; and
• operates on any frequency other than 880 MHz to 915 MHz, 925 MHz to 960 MHz, 1710 MHz to 1785 MHz, 1805 MHz to 1880 MHz, 1900 MHz to 1980 MHz or 2110 MHz to 2170 MHz.

Ofcom states that you should be transmitting CB in the 27MHz range, if you are, you come within the exception and are OK. The exception was created because so many government and private organisations (e.g. taxis) use 2 way radios.

However, there is strong scientific evidence that any such activity (including fiddling with your CD player etc.) does raise the level of danger so far as accidents are concerned, so it is recommended that you do whatever you can to minimise use of transmitter buttons, tuning devices and volume controls. If something akin to hands free exists it would be a good idea.

Even if the device you are using does not fall within the mobile phone legislation, with or without hands free, if you can't control your vehicle properly or are driving badly, you can be prosecuted for not being in proper control of your vehicle, careless driving or dangerous driving, the latter two offences carry much higher penalties. If you kill someone in an accident caused by phoning or texting or using a CB etc. you can expect a lengthy sentence of imprisonment.