On phone in stationary traffic

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NC for this. I'm wondering if any legal folk have advice or whether you all think IABU.

A few weeks ago I was stopped at traffic lights for some time in standstill traffic so I briefly picked up my phone to look at a message that had come through. I was on my own with my baby in the back. Suddenly I was aware of something to my right and when I turned, there was a man in a high vis jacket on a bicycle, stopped right next to my door, and bending down to stare at me through my window. He didn't engage, just stared straight at me for what felt like an age. His position meant that I couldn't get out of the car and it felt very intimidating. I didn't know what his intentions were, or what he'd do next.

He then cycled off ahead and stopped by the windows of one or two other drivers and did the same thing. I felt quite shaken by the experience.

I later learned that he either reported me or was an undercover policeman as he had filmed me on my phone with his helmet camera.

I have now received 6 points and a £200 fine. I accept that the law states that checking your phone including when stationary is an offence so I am not disputing that there should be a consequence.

However, I can't help but feel that 6 points is a disproportionate punishment given that I was stationary and not actually causing risk. If I was moving it would be a different matter but I was not driving without due care and attention, i was stationary with the break on.

Secondly, the method of capturing this footage - a man staring into a woman's car, on her own with a baby, and instilling fear and blocking her in surely is not acceptable?

Can I challenge any of this?

You are being very unreasonable and I can't believe you are trying to play the victim in this situation! 😂

Hopefully you've learnt your lesson

An unreasonable decision as you have not been banned for a period. Others are treated far too leniently I think and two wrongs don't make a right.

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It's not illegal to touch or use your phone while driving. It's not actually illegal to hold your phone, the offence is "holding and using".

It's really annoying when the lights go green and the car at the front doesn';t move. Then you pass them and realise the driver is so engaged in their phone they have not noticed the lights have changed. It's not a rare occurance around here.

Im glad you got 6 points and a £200 fine, enjoy your insurance premium next year.

People that use their phones while driving infuriates me, it's selfish and dangerous. So many people have lost their lives due to someone just checking social media or making a call.
My husband has a camera and if he sees people using phones whilst on his motorbike he records and sends to the police.

You must be "safely parked" to "hold and use" a phone. Just being stationary, engine off, hand brake on is not sufficient.

Van drivers are responsible for how they drive, not their employers.

Operation snap is designed for people to report drivers using their phone. There’s nothing unusual in the way the op was ‘caught’. Example
www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/opsnap

Can you provide a reference to this in the Highway Code?

You can use a two way radio though. My ex was a radio ham and was always chatting to others on long drives.

I was worried about a similar thing earlier in the year.
Stopped in stationary traffic, and a call from my employer came through. I answered it without really thinking.
After hanging up, thought "shit!" I was in lanes of traffic, so another motorist could easily have seen me.
Spent the next 2-3 weeks anxiously waiting for a fine.

Fortunately, it didn't come, but I learnt my lesson.

There are a number of people on social media who drive around on bicycles taking images of phone users and reporting them to the police solely for internet clicks.
Yes, I get it's illegal, but it's also pretty knobby behaviour.

Don't be so ridiculous, you don't challenge a fine with a lie, you will end up in far more trouble. The cyclist has the incident on camera and they don't lie.

Worth a shot is insane advice

Shouldn't have been on your phone

The Highway Code is available for free download from https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/download-pdf.html. Here is an extract from page 94 of that PDF:

148. Safe driving and riding needs concentration. Avoid distractions when driving or riding such as ● loud music (this may mask other sounds) ● trying to read maps ● inserting a cassette or CD or tuning a radio ● arguing with your passengers or other road users ● eating and drinking [italicised by me] ● smoking

Now, the Highway Code isn't a law as such, but it is used as a standard when the police are deciding to charge you with driving without due care and attention (aka careless driving). So it's not formally "You aren’t even allowed to eat or drink anything", but eating and drinking are definitely discouraged. Apart from anything else you are meant to keep both hands on the wheel at all times except when changing gear or doing some other essential driving-related operation.

You shouldn’t have done this but I’m more concerned about drivers who have one hand on the steering wheel moving and have a phone to their ear

I agree, avoid. Untrue to say "aren't even allowed".

You're 4 times more likely to have an accident whilst using your phone and you did this with your own baby in the car. As someone who does a lot of driving I see parents doing this every day and I'm always amazed at the complete lack of care for their own children. They either don't love them at all or they are thick as mince.
Endanger your own children if you want but don't go around endangering others. If it was up to me it would be an instant 5 year ban. You got off lightly.

For catching and reporting people breaking the law?

I hope the phone message was worth £200 and six points OP.

If your baby died because you were involved in a car accident with someone on their phone, you'd be pretty pissed off I reckon. So maybe don't do anything that would put your child and other people at risk? I think drivers using their phones should be banned from driving for 6 months tbh learn your lesson!

Well I do sympathise. The same thing happened t my adult son. And no, before anyone gets snarky, he doesn’t use his phone when driving but was stationary at lights. It’s a big penalty. The unfair thing is that drivers can use on screen sat navs and blue tooth etc which is distracting when the car is moving. Cyclists around here belting along whilst using mobile phones etc,There isn’t anything you can do. Just try not to dwell on it. These things happen unfortunately.

Be diffused if the other driver was stationary.

Difficult

Drivers can, amongst other things, legally take hand free calls when driving. So you can imagine that some calls can be very distracting to drivers. Texting when stationary can’t cause an accident.

If you're in a car that is running and around other cars, you have to be alert. If someone was about to rear-end OP, she wouldn't have known and would have had no chance to move. Or if her foot came off the brake because she was on her phone, and she rolled into someone. So many possibilities. All of them lead to the same conclusion- that it's best, and legal, to not use your phone while driving.