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Byrne fined over car mobile use

Liam Byrne
Mr Byrne has been a Home Office minister since May 2006

Immigration minister Liam Byrne has been fined £100 after admitting using his mobile phone while driving.

The Birmingham Hodge Hill MP was also ordered to pay £35 costs and given three points on his licence at Sutton Coldfield Magistrates' Court.

Mr Byrne, who pleaded guilty by letter, said he had been taking an important call on a deportation matter but there was no excuse and he was remorseful.

The former police minister was stopped on 6 July on Birmingham's Tyburn Road.

Mr Byrne, 37, who is also minister for the West Midlands, admitted an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988.

Prompt plea

In his letter he said he was involved in an important telephone call about a deportation matter, but realised that he should have pulled over.

He apologised to the court for taking up their time. He was fined £100 and told it would have been £150, but for his prompt guilty plea and expression of remorse.


The Home Office is responsible for the law and its ministers should be well aware of it and set the correct example
Kevin Clinton
Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents
Profile: Liam Byrne

His licence was also endorsed with three penalty points - he already had three points on his licence - and ordered to pay £30 costs.

Driving while using a hand-held mobile phone was banned in 2003, through an amendment to the Road Traffic Act's Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) regulations.

It was toughened up further in February when the minimum fine was raised from £30 to £60 in addition to three penalty points.

Law flouted

Figures obtained by the BBC News website in September suggest thousands of drivers continue to flout the law. In the north east of England alone, 3,045 notices were issued by police between February and August.

Kevin Clinton, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) said Mr Byrne should have known better.

"The Home Office is responsible for the law and its ministers should be well aware of it and set the correct example.

"Far too many lives have been lost needlessly because of mobile phone calls and whether you are on a hand-held or a hands-free phone you are four times more likely to crash.

"It is good to see him being treated in the same way as other motorists and it shows that people who flout this important law do get caught and punished."

The Home Office declined to comment.

BBC political correspondent Carole Walker said it was a "real embarrassment" for one of the government's "rising stars".

Well! I guess you must be one of those people for whome handys are not really important. Those of us who have seen our incomes fall by 30% as a consequence of complying with the new laws might feel rather differently!

On another note, the guy was an immigration minister, the issue could have been regarding a last minuite bid to avoid deportation by some guy on the steps of the plane while its engines were warming up. If you were in Texas, strapped in the chair, I imagine you would feel pretty pissed off if the governors reprive 30 seconds before the switch was thrown went over to voice mail because nobody answerd the phone!

On another note, the guy was an immigration minister, the issue could have been regarding a last minuite bid to avoid deportation by some guy on the steps of the plane while its engines were warming up. If you were in Texas, strapped in the chair, I imagine you would feel pretty pissed off if the governors reprive 30 seconds before the switch was thrown went over to voice mail because nobody answerd the phone!

Those of us who have seen our incomes fall by 30% as a consequence of complying with the new laws might feel rather differently!