Police took pic of my car

[WildflowerWildfire]

Posting here for traffic (no pun intended).

So I was waiting at some traffic lights earlier on today, and I had a notification on my Apple Watch from my DCs school. I quickly picked up my phone to see what it was, and the police pulled up in the lane next to me. I quickly put it back down, but half a mile down the road after the traffic lights, I saw (in my wing mirror) the policeman taking a pic of what looked like my car.

I know I did wrong, but is this photo evidence enough to give me a fine and points? Would the photo not need to be taken at the time I was holding my phone?

I’m panicking 😩. Help please.

You can fight it with a good enough lawyer like Mr Loophole.

Alternatively you can just pay the fine and learn your lesson.

If you have an iPhone, Siri will read your messages out loud to you. Just say "Hey Siri, read my text messages" and she'll read you any unread messages and say who they're from.

@SivvyPlath well I’m hoping they were taking a photo of something else. I was on high alert that they were behind me and obviously noticed them taking a pic.

They probably weren’t taking a photo of the car. They don’t need photo evidence, it’s considered that the word of a police officer that they saw an offence is enough. So yes they’d have pulled you over there and then. Think of all the people who have been prosecuted for this previously or offences such as no seatbelt….ive not heard of the police providing photo evidence before.

@AcrossthePond55

If you have an iPhone, Siri will read your messages out loud to you. Just say "Hey Siri, read my text messages" and she'll read you any unread messages and say who they're from.

Not if you have a passcode

You won't know until you either get a letter or don't. Some will pull you over right away, others (if busy) will take a note of your vehicle and reg and write it up later in the day. I wouldn't pin your hopes on your friend being correct, as every officer will do things differently in cases like this. So now you just wait.
At least you'll take away from this to never pick your phone up in the car again. Get a mount if you need it for gps, but no more reading messages.

I mean, here’s hoping it comes through the post! Might stop you picking it up while driving in the future! It’s the same level as drunk driving IMO

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-57026353

have a read, the daughter still have nightmares, the family has suffered - is this really how cheaply you see others lives op?

I believe it would be enough for two police officers to say they saw you using your phone - looking at it even while stationary at traffic lights is an offence. They may have photographed your registration and the fact that you were the sole occupant for ease of prosecution.

I can't for the life of me understand why they didn't pull you over to give you a talking to at the time. They might have decided that the circumstances of checking an alert from your son's school warranted a telling off rather than prosecution or they might not. That's up to them but boring though it is, the responsibility of police officers is to tell members of the public to stop being stupid even if they don't need to make an arrest.

I can attest to the fact that a telling-off from an officer at the side of a busy road makes you feel small and certainly makes most people not want to do it again in a hurry.

As it was they let you drive off which is no help to anyone especially the potential victim of your careless driving which is what this law is supposed to stop.

It doesn't seem that they were on urgent business. But so many people don't want to talk to other people any more and that includes police officers for whom you'd think that would be a job requirement.

@ivykaty44

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-57026353

have a read, the daughter still have nightmares, the family has suffered - is this really how cheaply you see others lives op?

He was driving down an A road - not sat at some traffic lights.

OP knows she did wrong but that's a completely different scenario.

Surely police cars have cameras so they'd have already got you on film picking up your phone....

www.idownloadblog.com/2019/07/19/announce-messages-with-siri-ios-13-tutorial/

a pair of pods is cheaper than the fine

The best thing would not be to use your phone while driving OP.

girlmom21

oh so if I use my phone in the car on an B road - thats ok, but an A road isn't

its the same fucking thing, there is a reason its illegal, as people die

just as long as its not your relatives its ok

Ill hide this thread now as it'll just make me angry reading your justification of which roads you do it on and not giving a shit about others

entitlement of drivers is incredible

@ivykaty44

girlmom21

oh so if I use my phone in the car on an B road - thats ok, but an A road isn't

its the same fucking thing, there is a reason its illegal, as people die

just as long as its not your relatives its ok

How is being stationary at traffic lights the same as driving down any road? How are people going to die? Stop being ridiculous.

We all know you shouldn't look at your phone even when stationary at lights and that it is still illegal but to compare it to driving along is just ridiculous.

reading your justification of which roads you do it on

Where did anyone say it was OK to do it whilst driving along on any road?

@ivykaty44

girlmom21

oh so if I use my phone in the car on an B road - thats ok, but an A road isn't

its the same fucking thing, there is a reason its illegal, as people die

just as long as its not your relatives its ok

Erm no but driving down a B road is still different to being stopped at traffic lights

@SoupDragon

reading your justification of which roads you do it on

Where did anyone say it was OK to do it whilst driving along on any road?

She's hard of reading. It's an ongoing theme. Don't worry.

Oh, I know.

Like others have said you wouldn’t necessarily have been pulled over for several reasons 1. They were going to some other crime, minimise contact because of covid, reluctance to pull over a single female with everything that’s gone on recently. It can be dealt with remotely, ie a letter.

Have you already got points which might lead to a ban? If you have to drive for your job you might get off without a ban (but with the fine and points)

@WildflowerWildfire

As others say they may simply have been taking a picture to record your registration. If they do follow it up it would be on the basis of what "one of them saw". It can - if I recall - be dealt with by fixed penalty and ? 6 penalty points.

They do not "have " to stop you at the time. Please let us know the outcome

[quote VainAbigail]@Louisa4987

How would you prove the driver was holding their phone etc if you didn’t have a photo of them doing so?

Interested to know.[/quote]
If they send out a penalty notice they don't need proof but you can decide to fight it in court. The problem is that costs money.

I think that were taking a picture of your car so they can issue a penalty notice by post

You shouldn't have done it. You could hurt an innocent person with your lack of care! Terrible. :(