well done pc 8029. now everyone thinks it is ok to use their phone will driving massive truck. good days work

report him?

you know the force and the officer id.

Wut ?

Is that the one where he already had nine points?

Yep, shocking. The guy is clearly a liability, doesn’t take driving serious and should be removed from the road. I don’t care if he loses his livelihood. The road is not for him.

report him?
you know the force and the officer id.

^this

If you think it’s a travesty then report the officer, otherwise your just as bad.

I’m going to, that’s appalling. Who cares about his back story. He will do it again and again and again now.

not just 9 points. also previously disqualified!

what you suggesting. police complaints?

Do we want police to be allowed to use their discretion or not?

Just the other day we had someone on here whinging because their son was given an FPN for riding without lights, which was as per the letter of the law but seen by most as harsh.

If you accept the concept of discretion, then you have to step back and allow them to use it rather than playing monday morning jury – alternatively, you have to accept everyone being punished to the letter of the law regardless of circumstances and without common sense or discretion.

Discretion goes out the window when your driving a 44 tonne truck surely.

44 ton truck. motorway. looking at photos on phone. bit different to a youth with no lights on a bike

That’s the while point. Show discretion where appropriate. The harm that comes from not paying attention when driving a truck is infinately more than riding with no lights. Discretion, yes.

Report him, I dare you 😈

Do we want police to be allowed to use their discretion or not?

Discretion really is your strong point 😉

Is there a back story to this or is it someone that the OP saw on the road?

whats the right way then? police complaints website?

any catch which force the coppers were from?

to be fair i thought they made a fair decision in difficult circumstances. the guy was a loser needing a break he didnt get off scott free he recieved a formal written caution.

all day everyday i see people driving whilst using phones its dangerous yet anyone with a phone in the car does it.. i know you ll claim to be blameless but unless its in the boot if it rings your going to answer/ check your texts.

to be fair i thought they made a fair decision in difficult circumstances. the guy was a loser needing a break he didnt get off scott free he recieved a formal written caution.

all day everyday i see people driving whilst using phones its dangerous yet anyone with a phone in the car does it.. i know you ll claim to be blameless but unless its in the boot if it rings your going to answer/ check your texts.

bbc3 motorway cops mate

Total shell really? My phone is in my pocket when I drive and I don’t touch it.

No. Anyone does not do it.
And everyone who does do it needs to learn it is unacceptable.

Who employs/insures lorry drivers who have previously been disqualified from driving and have 9 points on their licence?

totalshell – the copper left him off for reasons to do with him and not to do with the incident – I’ve had a bad personal situation too. Like we all look at photos instead of the road etc. I feel bad for the bloke, but not as much as I’d feel bad for someone he ran down while looking at his phone. He was even doing it while they were deciding to nick him FFS.

nosedive – if you’re that bothered I know someone who knows a lot about making complaints against the police

mrnice – dont see you on here very often! i think that online form on police complaints might be the way. im going to check it tomorrow

I saw the phone while he was sat in the back of the cop car and it looked like he was taking vedeo footage of it all.

I do a lot of travelling around the country and I see no end of truck drivers on the phone, they are probably the worse offenders.

I know a few truck drivers and this is what I’ve been told. In the 1st lane of a motorway or dual c’way you can see or when driving feel grooves in the tarmac where the constant stream of trucks have compressed it. This causes like a track where truck wheels will sit in and pretty much stay in a straight line. Because of this truckers will make a brew or something to eat or even get on the phone because the truck will pretty much stay in a straight line in cruise control.

That copper used his discretion, that was his decision at the time given the circumstances and surely he wouldnt make the wrong decision on national TV.

Personally I think they should have thrown the book at him due to his previous, and yes I do think he will do it again.

I’m usually a lurker…

surely he wouldnt make the wrong decision on national TV.

or he didn’t want to look like a bastard on national TV

The guy more than likely was having personal problems but he would have more if he killed someone.

I would love to snatch a phone out of a drivers hand and stand on it.

The Cop is out of order letting him off.

Let’s all go down to Central Motorway Police Groups area, drive like clowns and come up with a X Factor sob story.

or he didn’t want to look like a bastard on national TV

Either way he made a decision, I suppose it all depends on the copper.

Surely his decision is one that he is legally allowed to make ?

Complaining about wether it is right or wrong is just a matter of opinion, but his decision was legally sound, so he did nothing wrong in terms of procedure, so nothing will be done about it.

Terrible decision by the copper who clearly let his own prejudices cloud his judgement. He said several times he was in a similar situation to the truck driver.

Letting someone off with a clean licence with getting an update on a seriously sick relative using the phone whilst stopped at lights is showing discretion, this incident was a complete abdication of responsibility. It’s up to the courts to assess the appropriate sanction, not the police, otherwise Judge Dredd here we come.

Totalshell I hope you’re kidding!

I drive 20000 miles a year and phone rings or not it stays unanswered. My job involves a regular need to stay in touch with people by phone during difficult situations. I still do not pick up in the car. I stop to return calls every one to two hours. Your social life is not worth killing someone over.

I despair at those sort of programmes. You see the resources piled into one forced stop, driver gets arrested for various driving misdemeanors and at the end, the voiceover says “the disqualified driver caught driving with no insurance was fined £200 and banned from driving”.

He was already sodding banned and we saw how well that worked…! Must have cost tens of thousands of ££ in police resources to catch the guy and he gets let off to break the law again. Really winds me up.

Judge Dredd solution…

Citizen you have been caught using a hand held mobile phone in an hgv.

Sentence is death to be carried out immediately.

No repeat offenders…

Edit: I am not advocating capital punishment for driving offences except maybe spinner wheels.

The harm that comes from not paying attention when driving a truck is infinately more than riding with no lights

Yeah? Unless you’re the poor sod who hits the halfwit on the bike with dark clothing and no lights who just rides straight across a junction in front of you as you pull out, unable to see the idiot when you look either way, and go straight over the top of him.
But I guess that would be considered inconsequential by some… 🙄

all day everyday i see people driving whilst using phones its dangerous yet anyone with a phone in the car does it.. i know you ll claim to be blameless but unless its in the boot if it rings your going to answer/ check your texts.

I certainly don’t, the phone’s in my pocket, and almost impossible to get at while I’m driving, and my other phone, which is my iPod/satnav, has everything switched off apart from the phone, no emails/Fb/Twitter, etc, and nobody in the world has the number. I can’t be arsed to check texts straight away, unless I’ve got nothing better to do, and phone calls frequently go unanswered, on the rare occasion I actually get one.
Don’t generalise, everybody isn’t a muppet, regardless of what you might like to think.

Zero. Dint get me wrong but the berk with no lights will more likely than not be a physical victim. Whereas an inattentive hgv driver could kill a dozen who are not being stupid or careless in a single hit. In either event the hgv driver strands a chance of psychological harm only in the former case he might at least rationalise the accident with the stupidity of the unlit ninja. In the latter the blame is all his potentially. Reckon that might be worse.

just rides straight across a junction

Or a level crossing infront of a train. You seen that video? 😆

Ah, but if a truck driver was on the phone behind your poor sod, he’d drive over the car killing all occupants, just after he drove over the cyclist who the poor sod ran over. It’s like a Russian Doll of pain 🙁

Does no one have a hands free device in these posts? Surely someone who drives 20k miles a year would be better off with one than having their phone buzzung away in their arse pocket? Unless its Ashley Cole of course…

Yeah? Unless you’re the poor sod who hits the halfwit on the bike with dark clothing and no lights who just rides straight across a junction in front of you as you pull out, unable to see the idiot when you look either way, and go straight over the top of him.
But I guess that would be considered inconsequential by some…

Clearly it is important but if you actually do some research you’ll find that virtually all car/bike interfaces are found to be the drivers fault. Not the result of no lights or low vis clothing or even no helmet. Riding without lights, while inadvisable, does not leave people dead, without limbs or sucking through a straw the rest of their life.

Focus should be made where we know it will make a significant difference. And we know that using the mobile phone while driving causes many, many crashes every single year. Once the police have reduced the number of people crushed under a lorry driven by a mobile phone toting driver to the same number killed by someone not using lights on their bike, then it’s time to get them careless cyclists.

Until then, I’d actually like to see police using their discretion to get statistically deadly behaviours stamped out.

If you get caught using mobile phone as a car driver = £100 and 3 points.

If you get caught as a professional driver = £1000-£2500 with points as well.

Now if it was some emergency circumstances etc fair enough to let driver go, but here … slap both bastards with a dirty shoe!