Easy 6 points, a warning.

Yesterday I took part in the Next Level Wheelie School at Lyneham.
We were waiting for the last student to arrive only to be informed that he'd been stopped by the police.
It turns out that he got lost, stopped, removed his helmet and took out his phone to check Google maps.
That's when a police car pulled up and issued a ticket for using a phone whilst incharge of a vehicle.
Apparently if the keys are in the ignition, you are breaking the law.
I never knew this and have done it myself many times as I'm sure others have.
This chap will now lose his job as he's required to have a clean license and it could've been avoided if he'd just removed his keys from the ignition.

Bleeding hell, that's harsh!

Yikes !

Is that really all the story ?
Was the rider being a dick somehow ? Ie, sort of self inflicted ?
Had he been reported/seen riding badly ?
Practicing his wheelies en-route perhaps ?
If not, that is a staggering overreaction.
As you say, who hasn’t done that, or something like that before !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Last Train

Yikes !

Is that really all the story ?
Was the rider being a dick somehow ? Ie, sort of self inflicted ?
Had he been reported/seen riding badly ?
Practicing his wheelies en-route perhaps ?
If not, that is a staggering overreaction.
As you say, who hasn’t done that, or something like that before !

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Well...he was riding a rather tricked up BMW S1000RR and I did wonder if he'd been on a GS or something less sporty, whether he'd have just been given a stern talking to.
When we left the camp he went off like a scalded cat through Lyneham which is a 30. I did comment to my wife that maybe there was more to the story after seeing that but who knows.
The bottom line is that it is (apparently) an offence to use your phone whilst your keys are in the ignition.
I've googled it and couldn't get a definitive answer but probably better to be safe than sorry.

there probably is more to the story, however just having keys in the ignition is not an offence. having the engine running is ! it would also apply to any hand held device apart from a 2 way radio.
so i would hazard a guess that if there was nothing else in play that warranted the interaction then that rider had his bike running even though he had his helmet off.
https://www.askthe.police.uk/faq/?id=ac2e6341-7ac9-ed11-b595-0022483eff86


"Mobile phone - use when parked

Whether someone is driving in terms of the law is a question of fact and degree and is ultimately a matter for a court to decide.

If you are sat in the driving seat of a vehicle on a road with the engine running you will usually be deemed to be driving for the purposes of this offence. There have even been cases where people have been found to be driving when they have let the vehicle roll forward without the engine running. In order to ensure you don't break the law in relation to using a phone/device when parked in a safe and lawful place, we would suggest the following:

• Use a hands-free kit
• Use the phone/device outside the vehicle
• Ideally, don't use the phone/device at all"