Using a hand-held mobile phone while driving: the six-point fixed penalty
Checked 17 July 2026 · How we check our figures
What it is
The ticket for holding and using a hand-held phone or similar device at the wheel is a 200-pound fixed penalty with 6 points, reg 110 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 as amended in 2022; drivers call it a mobile phone fine. Since 25 March 2022 the offence is the holding and using, whatever the use: photos, playlists, a phone in flight mode, all inside the line (SI 2022/81). What the ticket does not say is what six points do: they are half the totting distance in one stroke, and inside the first two years of a licence they are the whole distance, because revocation needs no court.
Reading the notice
The allegation line reads hold and use; since the 2022 amendment there is no interactive communication element to argue about, and offline use counts (SI 2022/81).
Driving includes being stationary in traffic with the engine running, a queue or a red light; safely parked is outside it (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-17).
The exceptions are narrow and none of them is on the ticket: a genuine 999 or 112 call where stopping is unsafe or impracticable, a contactless payment in a stationary vehicle for goods delivered there and then, and remote parking functions (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-17).
The decision in front of you
Pay and identify inside the offer's 28 days: 200 pounds, 6 points, CU80 on the record for 4 years; the letter mechanics are the conditional offer guide's territory (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-17).
Contest it and the court route opens, usually through the Single Justice Procedure Notice and its guide: an income-banded fine of up to 1,000 pounds, the guilty-plea reduction on the fine bands guide's scale, and a discretionary ban the court can add (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-17).
Silence spends the 28 days and the prosecution follows on the conditional offer guide's clocks; the points question does not improve, it just moves to a courtroom.
What happens next
Inside the first two years after passing the test, the 6 points trigger revocation by the DVLA under the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995: the licence reverts to provisional and both tests must be passed again (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-17); the revocation is administrative, there is no court to persuade and no hardship argument to make.
For everyone else the points sit at half the threshold: a second six-point matter inside three years makes twelve, and the arithmetic moves to the totting up guide.
The CU80 stays on the driving record for 4 years (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-16), and hands-free stays lawful in itself, while a driver not in proper control can still be prosecuted, cradle or not (gov.uk).
The numbers
Fixed penalty: 200 pounds and 6 points (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-17).
In court: a fine of up to 1,000 pounds and a discretionary ban (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-17).
The record: CU80 endorsed for 4 years (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-16).
The deadlines
28 days on the conditional offer to pay and identify, on the clocks the conditional offer guide sets out.
The two-year new-driver window runs from the day the test was passed, Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995.
The rule's own date line: offences from 25 March 2022 onwards fall under the hold-and-use wording (SI 2022/81).
What people get wrong
Arguing the use was offline: scrolling a playlist or framing a photo has been inside the offence since 25 March 2022, and flight mode changes nothing (SI 2022/81).
Picking the phone up in a queue or at a red light: stationary in traffic with the engine running is still driving for this rule (gov.uk).
Paying the fixed penalty inside the first two years of a full licence without seeing the second consequence: the payment accepts the 6 points, the points trigger the revocation, and the ticket mentions none of it.
Authority
reg 110 Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, as amended by SI 2022/81; Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995; gov.uk